


Remote Romance

by FainTheSentientBeing



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Only thing that would really change is Tsubasa and Honoka's interractions, sort of canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 10:23:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9176833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FainTheSentientBeing/pseuds/FainTheSentientBeing
Summary: With Love Live, the imminent end of their school idol careers and the worlds constant spotlight Honoka and Tsubasa's relationship is cracking under the pressure, their time together shorter, their meetings infrequent, everything worsening by the minute. They will either burn up under the heat of the spotlight or fight their way through.





	1. Chapter 1

The silence between them said more than words ever could, there was a sense of cold awkwardness about the room despite the warmth of their bodies next to one another. Tsubasa sighed, gazing out of the window blankly. A sense of unease and worry preyed on her mind, she looked beside her at Honoka; Who was happily watching TV and clinging to her arm, oblivious to the suffocating pressure that was bearing down on Tsubasa. For weeks now worry had been consuming Tsubasa’s thoughts, ever since an idol magazine published a column speculating about their relationship. With images of them out together at cafes, restaurants, parks, anywhere that wasn’t their homes. Ever since then, the fans were rampant with discussion. Of course, it was controversial. Idols weren’t meant to have relationships to begin with, and they especially weren’t supposed to have them with their rival group’s leader. And yet here Tsubasa was, sat together with Honoka Kousaka at her home watching some random romantic drama. She took out her phone and scrolled though, it had been two weeks since the article was published and it still wasn’t calming down in the slightest. She briefly smiled at some support of them as a couple, but was then greeted by a cavalcade of gossip articles. Turning her phone off she sighed again, staring at the ceiling and wishing that this would all blow over and she could start spending time with Honoka normally.

Tiredly she moved closer into Honoka, finding herself in her arms within an instant. Honoka frowned slightly, tilting her head as she looked at Tsubasa’s haggard expression. “What’s wrong?” she asked. 

Tsubasa looked back at her, she felt trapped. As if a serpent were slowly constricting her, waiting for her breath to run out. Freedom was an impossibility at this rate, their relationship was under house arrest and they had no choice but to lay down and accept it. “N-nothing.” Tsubasa muttered, pressing her face into Honoka’s shoulder.

“Tsubasa-chan. Don’t give me that. What is it?” Honoka responded, taking Tsubasa by the chin and pulling her face away. Looking into her eyes with a look consumed by concern. 

Tsubasa froze, her gaze unable to move from Honoka’s eyes. She wanted desperately to lie, or tell her everything was fine, something to avoid the situation. But there was nothing she could do. A pair tears formed from the corner of her eyes, trickling down her face. Nothing else came; She wouldn’t let it, crying wouldn’t help. Remaining silent, she tried to articulate her words and struggled. Until finally a few words were squeezed out of her throat “I wish we were free.” Immediately she regretted it, what she had said made no sense. Angrily she groaned and softly headbutted Honoka, burying her face into her once again. 

It took Honoka a couple of seconds to understand “Ohhh. Is this about the article again?” she asked, running a hand through Tsubasa’s hair. Briefly she frowned to herself, the same thoughts had been plaguing her for a while too. It didn’t get to her as much as it did Tsubasa, while Muse were popular. They still weren’t the number one school idol group, deep down Honoka knew she’d never understand how it was for Tsubasa, with all of the world’s spotlights aimed directly at her. Although she could never understand she tried, because that was all she could really do and in her eyes. As long as she could do something for her, that was enough. “It’ll be okay. Don’t worry. I mean, who cares if they get some pictures of us hanging out? As far as they know we’re just out together. They only think we’re dating, they don’t know!” Silence. Immediately she knew her words didn’t help. Honoka sighed, and pulled Tsubasa even closer to her simply holding her and stroking her hair, comforting her until she calmed down.

A little while later, Tsubasa pulled away. “Thank you, Honoka-chan. Um. I’m sorry…”

Honoka smiled in response.. “It’s okay. You’ve got Anju and Erena coming over for practice soon, don’t you?” 

Tsubasa mirrored Honoka’s smile, it was impossible for her not to. No matter what situation, seeing Honoka smile made her happy. “Oh, yeah. I do. I’m sorry.” she said, her smile starting to fade before Honoka took her face in her hands.

“Okay! Good luck! I’l message you when you’re done, okay?” Honoka grinned, kissing Tsubasa’s forehead and standing up. 

Blushing Tsubasa responded “Okay.” she stayed sat down, looking up at Honoka and smiling back. “Talk to you then.” 

“Bye!” and with that single word, Honoka was gone and everything came crashing down on Tsubasa once again. An emptiness grew from the inside out, consuming her completely as the weight of the world returned to her shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first Love Live fanfic, I haven't seen Season 2 in a while so I hope everything is in character. I hope you enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed writing it. I feel like this first chapter is a bit short, so I'll try and make the next one longer.


	2. Chapter 2

Sighing, Honoka made her way home. The day was cold despite the sun shining above her, the sky was as clouded as her thoughts. She couldn’t understand why Tsubasa was so worried. Sure idols weren’t supposed to date people, but there was nothing preventing them from doing it. Neither of them were signed to agencies or anything, and both of them lead their own groups. In the end they had no one to answer to but themselves. Honoka sighed looking back toward Tsubasa’s house over what seemed to be immeasurable miles. She blankly stared at her phone, she had barely left Tsubasa but it felt like it had been days. She left a quick message of support for her and the rest of A-Rise in their practice of the day and started scrolling through, they had more messages than conversations at this point. 

As she walked she passed an idol shop, Tsubasa’s face emblazoned on the window, reminding her of what she was missing. She wanted to keep walking, but temptation had already taken over her. She bought a bagful of merchandise, if she couldn’t have the real thing she could at least have these. Smiling, she looked into the bag; Tsubasa didn’t seem so far anymore.

Having spent a good few seconds staring she began to walk again, humming Private Wars to herself. She often did things like this, humming Tsubasa’s songs, listening to interviews to hear her voice, reading magazines about her, she was never really into all those things but it was all she could do to fill the void. The time and distance flew by and Honoka found herself at home, weakly pushing the door open and idly waving to her mother she made her way upstairs. 

Collapsing onto her bed, Honoka held her pillow close to her body as if it were Tsubasa, of course it could never compare. It didn’t have her warmth, her smooth skin, her heartbeat that felt synchronized with Honoka’s own. None of that was present, and it wouldn’t be for quite a while. Yet more time passed as Honoka lay there, waiting for something. Anything to happen. The loneliness only punctuated by the occasional intrusion of her sister or Alisa’s voice from the next room. An unknowable amount of time passed before her phone alerted her to a message from Tsubasa. Once she had heard it she scrambled out of bed with the grace of a puppy still learning to walk, excitement rushing through her she picked up the phone. It was just a simple hello with a heart, but to Honoka it meant so much more. Her fingers tapped the screen like lightning striking the earth. She responded with a near identical message back.

Immediately Honoka wanted to know the next time they’d be together. She asked “So, when do I get to see you again Tsubasa-chan?” and waited for a response with baited breath. Her chest tense as Tsubasa responded, then stopped typing, before once again continuing, it was clear she was having trouble saying what she was trying to. 

After a minute the response came “I don’t think we can see each other for the rest of the week. I’ve got a radio interview tomorrow with Erena and Anju, then we’ve both got a lot to do for the final preliminaries of Love Live. Wednesdays are usually date days, I know. But they’ve seen us at all our usual places… I’m sorry Honoka-chan.”

An overwhelming feeling of disappointment swept over Honoka. She expected something, at least one small chance to be with Tsubasa again that week. It was all she needed, a mere five minutes would be enough. But there it was, spelled out as clear as day for her that she couldn’t have even that. After a few seconds her fingers feebly tapped back a response. “Are you sure we can’t do Wednesday? Please Tsubasa! We can go back to that cafe, maybe we can get the nice seats away from the windows?” it was more of a desperate plea than a question, she was begging and she knew it. It felt wrong, unnatural. She shouldn’t have to do this, beg for just a chance to be with her girlfriend. Burying her face into her pillow she awaited Tsubasa’s response. Hoping with her entire being they could be together again.

Tsubasa was absolutely powerless. There was nothing she could say but yes. “Okay. I’ll see you Wednesday, please listen to the radio interview tomorrow. It’ll make me happier knowing my number one fan is listening!” 

Honoka took the phone and beamed, clutching her pillow close to her chest. She almost screamed with excitement, she had been wanting this for weeks now but Tsubasa was scared off from the cafe when a reporter got a picture of them together there. Foolishly Honoka had posed for it, not thinking of the impact it would have. A few days later, an article speculating on them had been published and all of A-Rise and Muse’s fanbase got up in arms about the rumours. Some passionately supportive, some confused, and a highly vocal portion denouncing it. Whether it be for preference of one group over the other, a dislike for the concept in general or a myriad of other reasons it was there and it was inescapable. Honoka sent her a message back “Okay! I’ll make sure to listen! <3” along with a picture of her face, bright and beaming like the sun. She wanted Tsubasa to know just how happy she had made her. A minute later Tsubasa sent her a picture back, a smile and her trademark wink. Parts of her hair stuck slightly to her forehead from sweat; It was clear she had been practicing hard. Honoka grinned to herself, a spark of passion lit within her. She messaged Tsubasa a quick goodbye as she went off to practice, set out to work just as hard as her girlfriend was for the upcoming performance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I made this one longer. Hope you enjoy it! I'm quite proud of this chapter. I rewatched the Yume No Tobira episode and read a few LLSIF stories for this, so I hope that paid off in my characterization and things here.


	3. Chapter 3

Shifting awkwardly Tsubasa sat between Erena and Anju, as she always did. It was just like any other interview, the three of them sat together on a reasonably comfortable sofa. It was never extremely comfortable. It was always just okay. They had a microphone on the table in front of them, it was even the same brand as the others they’d done interviews with. Nothing particularly stood out about the woman interviewing them either, nothing stood out about any of it. They were in their school uniforms. Everything was as regular as it could be. Formalities were quickly spoken, A-Rise introduced themselves to the listeners. Tsubasa began to make herself comfortable as the interviewer asked Erena and Anju some simple questions. Their thoughts on the upcoming preliminaries, a few of their competitors and so forth. 

With one word, all of Tsubasa’s comfort came crashing down. “Muse.” Tsubasa’s teeth gritted and her fists clenched at the mention of the group, paranoia overtook her thoughts. “Next they’re going to ask about Honoka” she thought, not letting down the smiling guise she put on for the interviewer. She was going to continue letting Erena and Anju cover everything, then justify her silence by saying she wanted to have less attention, since she takes enough away from them as the leader. 

“So, do you think Muse is going to be a threat in this Love Live?” the interviewer asked, looking over the three. She mentally noted Tsubasa’s silence, she would press her on that soon.

“Oh, of course they’re a threat!” Anju responded first, she always did. Unlike Tsubasa and Erena she thought a lot less about her words and went with her gut instinct, thankfully for her fellow idols her gut instinct tended to be pretty good. “Their performance alongside us at UTX was amazing, don’t you think? They’re definitely the ones we’re looking out for!” she smiled, acting as though a camera were on them. She did that whenever they were on idol business, regardless of whether they could be seen or not.

Following up on what Anju said, Erena concisely made a statement “Muse are our biggest rivals in these preliminaries, we all look forward to competing against them.” Once Erena had spoken all eyes fell to Tsubasa, she shifted in her seat again. The room had become a pressure cooker, hot and claustrophobic. Tsubasa looked forward, her eyes meeting the interviewer’s. To her it no longer felt like a conversation, it felt like a conflict. She braced herself as the interviewer opened her mouth…

“So, Kira-San. What do you think of Muse? You seem to be the one with the most fondness for them.” she emphasized the word fondness to an extreme degree. Tsubasa clenched her teeth together, it was going exactly where she was expecting. 

“Well, they’re certainly a talented group. We’ve actually had our eye on them for a while-” Tsubasa began, only to be cut off by the interviewer. There was a glint in her eye, as if she were an eagle who had just found the perfect opportunity to strike its prey.

“Oh, I bet you have, Kira-San.” she said, giggling afterward. “Especially Kousaka-San, right?” despite her being sat across from Tsubasa, it felt like she was looming over her. Backing her into a corner and singling her out, stress seized Tsubasa’s heart. It began to beat faster and faster, more wildly, as if trying to break free. She cleared her throat and began her response.

“Well. Yes. Hon-... Kousaka-San certainly stands out, she is their leader after all. So, of course I’d focus on her. We have the same position after all.” Tsubasa responded formally and calmly, trying to prevent any emotion coming through. She almost thought she had deflected the situation, but he look was still there in the interviewer's eyes.

“Oh? So Kousaka-San stands out to you? Interesting! I imagine you’ve heard the rumours about you and her, right?” the interviewer sounded unknowing, merely curiously asking about Tsubasa’s feelings but Tsubasa could tell she knew exactly what she was doing. She was cornering her, trying to get any information out of her she can, she wanted some big news to make her broadcast notable. Tsubasa shook in her chair slightly, the interviewer was unknowingly preying on her most vulnerable area right as she thought she was safe. She thought she could be away from the ever-present pressure but it was only intensifying.

Deciding the best course of action was to act oblivious Tsubasa tilted her head “Hm? Rumours? What rumours?” she prayed she was convincing. Her breaths were growing quicker and more frequent, it wasn’t quite noticeable yet. But she feared it would be soon enough. Suddenly she felt Anju and Erena’s hands on hers. A firm pressure grounding her back in reality. She took a deep breath through her nose. She felt a lot more confident with them there beside her. 

“Oh, well there are some rumours about you and Kousaka-san dating. After all there’ve been a lot of pictures circulating of the two of you together. Even one where you two were holding hands.” A devilish grin spread across her face, her eyes intensely bearing down on Tsubasa.

“O-oh? Are there?” Tsubasa continued to act unaware, but she stumbled over her words. Anju squeezed her hand, she took a deep breath. 

“Mmhmm. Is there any truth in that, Kira-San?” 

In that moment, time froze for two people. One, Tsubasa Kira. Silent and still as she tried to find words that just wouldn’t appear. Two, Honoka Kousaka. Miles and miles away over the airwaves. In her mind she ran through all the possibilities she could only dream of, Tsubasa admitting they were dating and letting this entire thing be over with, Tsubasa refusing to answer the question, Tsubasa giving a non committal answer, just something, anything that wasn’t no.

Anju answered for her “Aw come on now, don’t be ridiculous! Just because they had a few meetings doesn’t mean they’re dating, and I’m sure Tsubasa-chan can explain the whole hand holding thing.” she smiled toward Tsubasa, squeezing her hand again to give her some confidence. 

Tsubasa cleared her throat. “Yes. The picture in question. We were in a crowd and we didn't want to lose one another." She paused, she took care to emhasize the next statement as much as possible. "I can assure you there is absolutely nothing between me and Kousaka-San.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was on a roll yesterday and wrote this just after Chapter 2, I feel like I'm improving with each and every chapter. The interview takes place over two chapters, so don't worry about the abrupt ending. As always I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

The words echoed through Honoka’s mind. “There is absolutely nothing between me and Kousaka-San.” They hurt. She knew Tsubasa didn’t mean them, but they hurt all the same. She sighed, not wanting to keep listening. But she had promised Tsubasa, so she stayed. Blankly staring at the ceiling as the interview went on, a thousand miles away and out of her control.

The interviewer clearly wasn’t satisfied with that answer, Tsubasa could see she had stepped down slightly but the glint in her eye was still there. “Hm. So, Kira-San. Are you attracted to women? I mean, I couldn’t blame you considering the group you’re part of.” she punctuated the sentence with a giggle that was simultaneously sinister and innocent. “Could it be you’re more interested in perhaps… Yuuki-San?” 

Surprisingly it was Erena who spoke first, surprisingly lacking her usual composition “There is absolutely no in-dating in A-Rise!” immediately she regretted it, her eyes widened. Even she was shocked at how she responded. Anju giggled in response, looking over at Erena and smiling. 

“She’s right, there’s no dating. Within A-Rise, with other idol groups or otherwise.” Erena blushed and sank back into the sofa, still trying to process what she just did. Anju moved her hand away from Tsubasa and patted her on the back reassuringly. Tsubasa snickered, looking between them and grinning. 

“So, what’s your next question?” Tsubasa asked, a slight smugness in her voice. The predatory glint in the interviewer’s eye was gone and her presence had become the the reserved normality it was to begin with. The rest of the interview went by fine, with no mention of dating, Muse and especially not Honoka. Tsubasa found herself comfortable, getting into her usual routine when it came to interviews. She had won this battle, but in the back of her mind she knew she was far from winning the war. Once the interview ended she stood with gritted teeth and took the interviewer’s hand, firmly shaking it and smiling. She looked directly into her eyes “Thank you for having us on your radio show.” for the first time that day her presence eclipsed the interviewers. 

Once the three of them had left the room Anju stretched and giggled, looking over at Erena. “What was that?” she asked a sly grin on her face.

“Wh-what was what?” Erena responded, she already knew of course but she couldn’t think of any other way to respond. Without missing a beat Tsubasa responded.

“There is absolutely no in-dating in A-Rise!” she exclaimed, mimicking Erena’s panicked tone. She and Anju giggled synchronously afterward, both of them looking over at Erena.

“I-I didn’t sound that panicked.” Erena straightened her back and cleared her throat, returning to her usual demeanor. Anju snickered, a plan forming in her mind. 

“Interesting how you spoke out like that when she mentioned me, hmm?” Anju teased, swooning and leaning her body into Erena’s, looking up at her. “Any reason for that?” her pink eyes met Erena’s turquoise, both of them were captivated, though neither would care to admit it. 

“N-no. It just. Bothered me. The concept.” through some miracle she had kept herself relatively calm, she placed her hands on Anju’s shoulders as if to move her only to find herself unable to go through with it. Several seconds passed in silence, the two of them finding themselves enthralled in one another’s presence. It could have carried on for hours if not for Tsubasa clearing her throat. The two of them suddenly came apart, taking a step away from one another and acting oblivious to what had just happened.

Tsubasa smirked “I’m surprised it’s me and Honoka getting all the attention…” she taunted. Turning her back on them and beginning to walk. Immediately her friends eyes widened and their faces reddened, the two of them looking back and forth at one another and Tsubasa. 

“Y-you realise I was just joking right? I-I didn’t mean any of that…” Anju began, rambling to a Tsubasa who wasn’t quite listening, only smugly taking in her victory. Erena followed behind, her face buried in her hands with no sign of it emerging. 

Tsubasa rolled her eyes, glancing back at her friends. She swore she understood their feelings better than them sometimes. “So, what are you two planning to do now?” she asked, turning toward them.

Anju perked up and responded “Oh, well Erena-chan was going to-...” she narrowed her eyes at Tsubasa. “I see what you’re doing.” Tsubasa shrugged and winked in response, turning around and continuing to walk. 

“So, what was Erena-Chan going to do to you?” Tsubasa sniggered, without looking back she could already imagine the look on Anju’s face. Bright red with a flustered expression that mixed both shock and confusion, with a slight hint of anger to top it all off.

“Erena-Chan isn’t going to do anything! She was just coming to my house to help with costume design. You happy now, Tsuba-chan?” A barely present sound of agreement came from Erena, whose face had managed to get even further into her hands than before.

Giggling, Tsubasa nodded. Waving behind her and continuing to walk away from her friends. “I’ll forgive you for leaving out the more interesting parts.” she called. Leaving behind her what were once her fellow idols as blushing messes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than the last two, sorry. I was kind of just happy with how it was and felt the story of this chapter was told. As always, please enjoy! If you've got anything you'd like to say, please comment I'd love to hear it.


	5. Chapter 5

A myriad of different outfits lay discarded on the floor, a rainbow of rejection covering the area around Honoka’s feet. She sighed, rummaging through her all but barren cupboard desperately. Scrambling she finally managed to pull free another shirt, holding it up to the mirror she took a picture. She sent it to Kotori “Is this one good?” was the message that followed it, it seemed like she had been doing this for at least an hour. Holding up clothes, taking pictures of them and sending them to Kotori. 

Near identical responses came back each time “I think that one looks nice Honoka-Chan! I’m sure Tsubasa will love it.” or “ It looks “That one’s good, if you want to wear it you should.” This time she was greeted with “I like it. If you want to wear it go ahead.” As knowledgeable as Kotori was about clothes, she wasn’t one to be decisive, or criticise, or do anything Honoka really needed her to in that moment. And yet Honoka had foolishly contacted her, thinking her knowledge of design would help her but all it resulted in was her being pulled into an abyss of indecision. 

“Kotori-Chan you aren’t helping.” Honoka typed, frowning. She usually wouldn’t be this brutally honest with Kotori, but she needed everything perfect for her date with Tsubasa. She had already made a reservation at the cafe despite the fact they didn’t even do them, it turned out signed A-Rise merchandise was all it took to make them start, she had trimmed her hair slightly, went out and bought fancy makeup, absolutely anything and everything she could possibly do to improve the date. All that was left was her outfit, she was falling at the final hurdle. No matter which set of clothes she looked at none of them ever seemed right. They were either too casual or not nice enough or dirty, there were thousands of reasons she could think of to not wear each and every one of them.

To Honoka, it felt as if her entire relationship were riding on this date, that if she slipped up in the slightest everything would crumble apart and it would be all her fault. She felt tense, as if her heart were in a slowly tightening vice. She envisioned a knock on effect, if this date went wrong she and Tsubasa wouldn’t go out on dates anymore, then Tsubasa wouldn’t want them to go visit one another, and then their relationship would be reduced to just messaging, until there was nothing left. Of course the notion was ridiculous, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying to Honoka. Laying back on her bed she glanced at the pile of clothes and looked away, she could hardly bear the sight of them. A mere look at them brought her paranoia and dread back to the forefront of her mind. 

“Oh, I’m sorry Honoka-Chan. What am I doing wrong?” Kotori texted back Honoka was a minute or two late to reply, having become lost within her own mind.

“You aren’t harsh enough! Or decisive! I need you to tell me what to wear, not say all of them are good and then tell me to choose!! I should’ve just asked Umi or Maki or someone, you’re useless!” Internally Honoka knew she was being too hard on Kotori, but she couldn’t help it. All the stress she had built up was overflowing, seeping through her fingers and into her words. She sighed, trying to send an apology but freezing. Her fingers couldn’t move, she resigned herself to staring at the screen. Waiting for a response. 

Kotori wasn’t hurt, she wasn’t quite sure what was going on with Honoka but she knew something was wrong. Any feeling of anger or sadness she could have mustered over that statement had been replaced with concern. “Honoka-Chan, what’s wrong?” she saw through Honoka like glass. Over the years she had become attuned to her feelings, she could read both Umi and Honoka like books. She had managed to figure out Honoka’s feelings for Tsubasa before even she could, although she gave her time after that to realise everything for herself both to let the relationship grow naturally and because she was a little too passive to even say anything. As Honoka replied she scrolled over the outfits, pushing her indecisiveness and uncertainty aside for the good of her friend. She picked out a shortlist, before eliminating one after another until she finally had the perfect outfit for Honoka.

Eyes widening, Honoka stared at the response. Amazed that Kotori had merely asked how she felt. She wasn’t upset, or angry, or anything. She was just concerned for her wellbeing. Tears nearly formed in Honoka’s eyes “Maybe it was a good thing to ask Kotori after all…” she thought to herself, a fraction of a smile forming on her face.“I’m sorry Kotori-Chan. I’m worried about the date. Tsubasa is so scared! It’s all my fault, I posed for the first picture and it all spiralled from there. I need this to be perfect. Or else Tsubasa may never go on dates with me again!” she typed, the tightness in her chest eased slightly as she finally released some of the worry that was eating her from the inside. 

“It’s okay, Honoka-Chan. The date will go perfectly, don’t worry. Especially since you’ll be wearing… This!” she sent Honoka the outfit she would be wearing. It was simplistic, but elegant. A purple turtleneck sweater with a black v neck pattern and a pair of off-white trousers. It was nothing particularly special, the only thing worth nothing about it is that it was a little too big and baggy. 

“Um. Is that the outfit? It doesn’t seem. Special enough, Kotori-Chan?” Honoka didn’t want to mistrust her judgement, but she failed to understand her friend’s reasoning. 

“Well, this date will make it special, won’t it? I’ve never seen you wear it before, so it’d make an impact, wouldn’t it? A brand new outfit to dazzle Tsubasa with?” Kotori smiled to herself, confident in her choice. 

“Yeah! Thank you Kotori-Chan! You’re a genius!” Honoka rapidly typed back, grinning to herself and she rummaged through her clothes pile to find the previously discarded outfit. Enthusiastically she changed into it, admiring herself in the mirror with a renewed confidence. The feeling in her chest was gone, that sickening feeling of tight suffocation around her heart had disappeared after days. 

“You’re welcome Honoka-Chan, I’ve got to go now. But good luck on your date! (・８・) “ Kotori replied, putting her phone down and looking out of the window. She smiled softly to herself knowing Honoka was okay. As she walked downstairs, she envisioned where Honoka was now. She would be running right out of her door to meet Tsubasa, nearly knocking over her mother as she sprinted out into the city streets, with a grin on her face and an aura of excitement. 

What she envisioned was exactly right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first time ever writing Kotori, I hope it turned out well. Sorry for not uploading for a few days it's just I didn't have loads of time to write and I had shit going on in life so, I'm sorry. I can't promise a consistent schedule but I'll be trying my best. As always, I hope you enjoy!


	6. Chapter 6

From behind a corner, Tsubasa peered. Her eyes hidden in the comforting shadow of a pair of sunglasses, she had been waiting for Honoka for about five minutes already. She had arrived on time; of course expecting Honoka to be late, but she couldn’t help feel uneasy. Her eyes darted around, scouring the area around her for Honoka or reporters, fans, anyone that could recognize her. Fortunately there was no one that could pose a threat to their date but unfortunately Honoka herself wasn’t around. Tsubasa sighed, leaning against the wall of the cafe, staring into the sky and losing herself in her thoughts. Part of her wondered if Honoka would even show up at all. She tried to ignore it, but the longer she spent alone the more it took over her mind. Her knees shook and felt as if they were going to buckle at any second.

 

She fell, not from her knees buckling but from a sudden impact that had come crashing into her side. The sudden hit and her collision with the ground were contrasted by a familiar feeling of softness and warmth. “H-honoka-Chan?” Tsubasa yelped, muffled by the facemask covering her mouth. 

 

“Hi Tsubasa-Chan! I’m sorry! I was just excited and then I saw you and I went to hug you but I tripped so-” Honoka spoke a mile a minute, an odd combination of panic and joy in her voice. She moved off of Tsubasa, but only slightly. In truth she was enjoying being so close to her, despite the fact they were on the floor. She pulled Tsubasa into a hug, holding her for only a few seconds before letting go again. “S-sorry. We’re in public. I forgot.” 

 

“I-it’s okay..” Tsubasa looked around, the area was thankfully quiet and no one had noticed. The cafe was in a mostly remote place, barely anyone was walking by and those who were had been too engrossed in their phones or music to have noticed them. “N-no one saw anyway.” she smiled slightly, Honoka moving off of her as she began to push herself up onto her feet. 

 

Finally she was able to get a good look at Honoka. Examining her up and down she was amazed, she had always thought Honoka was beautiful of course. But it felt like she was never truly able to appreciate it until now. The way her smile radiated like the sun, the infectious aura of happiness she carried with her, her pure blue eyes that matched the colour of a warm tropical ocean, her fiery hair that matched her demeanour. Tsubasa could spend hours upon hours focusing on every little detail of her and still wouldn’t be anywhere near done listing the reasons she loved her. Tsubasa stayed silent, closing her eyes and thinking. Calculating in her mind the best way to articulate her feelings. She opened her mouth to speak…

 

She immediately closed it, realizing they were outside. “Your outfit is lovely, Honoka-Chan.” she said, smile hidden by her facemask. Despite not being able to see it, Honoka somehow felt it and returned the smile. “Shall we go inside?” Tsubasa asked, walking to the door of the cafe and placing a hand upon the smooth, chill glass. Honoka nodded in response and Tsubasa pushed the door open.

 

A comforting, familiar smell of tea and freshly baked pastries filled the air, accompanied by a caressing warmth. Tsubasa’s worries began to fall away as she walked further inside, she forgot why she had even stopped visiting in the first place. Honoka smiled, lightly brushing her hand against Tsubasa’s to get her attention. “C’mon, I reserved us that nice corner.” she slowly walked over, suppressing her energy for a brief time to match Tsubasa’s leisurely pace. She sat down comfortably, she loved this spot in particular. It felt like their own home away from home in some way, it was two comfortable sofas with a table between them, nestled neatly in a corner that blocked two sides, the seconds sofa and a third, smaller wall decorated with plants sealed them away from all of the other customers. The only entrance was to the right of the table, the corner was somewhat hard to see too. One would have to look at a certain angle to see it from any other table, it felt safe and sealed away. Their own safe haven where they could be together without worry.

 

At least, it was. After all, this was where they were spotted together originally, what initiated all the rumours and discussion about the two of them. Despite her happiness the thought lurked in the back of Tsubasa’s mind. “What if we get found out again? Would they expect us to come here?” She managed to push them away, she knew they would return eventually, but she refused to let them get her now. Her thoughts returned to Honoka and just how beautiful she looked in that moment, Tsubasa could have spent all day staring at her but she didn’t want to. All she wanted then was to have her date in peace. “You look incredible Honoka-Chan, more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen.” Sure, she was being sudden. But she couldn’t help it, she needed to tell Honoka that, she had been wanting to since they had started dating but for whatever reason she was never able to say it. Resting her head on her hands she looked into Honoka’s eyes, trying not to lose herself in them so she could see Honoka’s reaction.

 

Honoka was utterly taken aback, a blush overwhelming both of her cheeks entirely. “N-no Tsubasa, I-I’m not uh. Beautiful. Cute and pretty maybe. But uhh. N-not that!” she couldn’t look Tsubasa in the eye, her gaze darted around before finally resting on the table between them. 

 

Tsubasa simply giggled. “Well… You are cute and pretty. But you’re also beautiful. Honestly it’s amazing you can pull them all off.” she said, Honoka as her only focus. She couldn't bear to move her eyes away for even a second.

 

“N-no! If anyone does that it’s you, Tsubasa-Chan!” Honoka exclaimed, the blush illuminating her face becoming more and more intense. “And you can do hot too…” she muttered, glancing even further from Tsubasa. “I wanna see your face properly. Take off all that stuff.” it wasn’t quite an order, but it was something close. Tsubasa felt compelled to obey, removing her facemask and sunglasses and letting Honoka see her clearly. “See, I told you! You’re the amazing one! I’m just kinda good. You, you’re perfect.” she grinned, leaning across the table to admire Tsubasa up close.

 

Quickly and unexpectedly, Tsubasa stole a kiss from Honoka’s lips. A sly smirk bewitching her face as she watched Honoka’s face redden again “H-hey! That’s not fair!” she pouted at Tsubasa “I wanted to do that…” 

 

“You still can.” Tsubasa challenged, resting her face in her hands and smiling at Honoka, she shot up, taking only a second to press her lips up against Tsubasa’s. She held it for short while, she wanted to keep Tsubasa there in that moment for as long as she could. Finally pulling away after what felt like an eternity, Honoka smiled. Resting her forehead against Tsubasa’s. Cracking her neck and stretching, Tsubasa stood up. “I’m going to go get us some stuff, okay? Do you want your usual things?” she asked, smiling down at Honoka. She nodded in response and Tsubasa continued on her way, humming peacefully to herself until a sudden crash of a tray interrupted her.

 

From their corner, Honoka heard the clatter. She wanted to look, but she assured herself it was nothing. She leaned back into the sofa, unconcerned for a moment before a sudden voice exploded from behind the wall. “Are you Kira Tsubasa!?”

The moment that had thought they were safe, that no one would recognize them. There they were, a fan. A fan who like anyone. Had a camera on their phone, They were no longer safe, every moment they were there was a risk. Even though Honoka had taken every precaution, she checked when the employees that knew about them were working, had reserved the table in the corner, had checked when they were most inactive. But now it was all meaningless. She laid her head on the table, awaiting whatever happened next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I'm so sorry. I took so long making this.The good news is, it's one of the longest chapters yet. The bad news is, like the interview chapter it's split into two parts. Sorry about that, I just really wanted to put this up tonight since I haven't uploaded in a while. And besides, it's still the same amount of content as if I uploaded it all as one. You just get this sooner.
> 
> As always, please enjoy and comment any feelings and thoughts you have.


	7. Chapter 7

Her body had shut down, entirely still and silent. For a moment she wasn’t even breathing, she couldn’t take her eyes off of the fan before her. She was stuck there, chained by shock and worry. A series of options were mapped out in her mind, she could deny being Tsubasa Kira but that wouldn’t work for several obvious reasons. She could walk away and ignore her, but she could be followed and either way it would hurt her reputation. Or she could try and deal with the fan like she did any other and pray she hadn’t heard any of the rumours about her and Honoka. She decided on the final option, forcing a smile onto her face. “Yes. Hello.” she said, seamlessly melting into her idol persona. 

 

“Oh my god! Kira Tsubasa! It’s you! Oh my god! This is amazing!” she was ecstatic, a grin overcoming the majority of her face. “I heard your radio interview yesterday!” Tsubasa’s smile wavered, she examined the fan closer. Nothing stood out about her until she saw her bag, on it there was an A-Rise pin. As she expected, but beside it… A Muse pin. In that moment, Tsubasa’s smile disappeared completely. Her day was ruined in that minute catastrophic detail. 

 

“O-oh? Did you enjoy it? I certainly did.” she winked, a signature of her performances as an idol. It lacked the energy it usually had, there was no charisma, passion or any emotion behind it. It was a hollow shell of what had once been a symbol of her as an idol, a dark reflection of how she had been feeling as of late. 

 

“Yeah! But still, it kind of disappointed me… I thought there really was something between you and Kousaka Honoka!” the fan was wrought with wonderment. Words tumbled out of her mouth, unfiltered and unconsidered. Tsubasa’s fake smile twitched, it wasn’t enough to really affect her but it implanted an uneasy feeling in her mind. A realisation that everyone had heard that and believed her, that as far as the world knew Honoka was nothing to her, a friendly rival at best. She didn’t quite understand why it bothered her, after all it was probably the best possible thing she could have said. It would nullify the situation at least slightly, and would get the attention of of her. But to her it still felt so wrong, not just because it was a lie but because she had disowned the person she loved most in front of thousands. Tsubasa’s eyes widened as she realised Honoka had heard her too. Desperately she wanted to turn, run and apologize. However she was kept in place but the fan’s starry eyed gaze. 

 

Finally managing to tear her mind from the thoughts assaulting it, she was faced with another dilemma. How would she respond? She could deny it, but if the fan managed to see Honoka then she would be outed as a liar, potentially to the entire community if this fan managed to get the information out, she could try and get her to leave, but there was no guarantee she would. Everything in the situation depended on one factor entirely beyond her control, the fan. She couldn’t take this on how she did every other problem in her life, through careful thought, planning and controlling the variables. Improvisation was the only option. “I handled myself in the interview, I should be fine. Right?” she thought, only to be immediately countered by herself “But Erena and Anju were there with me, I’m alone this time…” she desperately tried controlling her breathing, this happened a lot. Whenever she had no control and no one with her, her confidence vanished. Transforming her into a smiling facade or a breathy mess, depending on the circumstance. 

 

Presently, she was walking the line between both. A false smile stained her face, but behind the mask of an expression she wore her breaths were growing shallower by the second. “Um. Well, there isn’t I’m afraid. As Erena and Anju said, none of us are dating anyone. I’m just here with Honoka to discuss business things.” her words fell from her mouth far less gracefully than she had hoped they would, she hadn’t intended to mention Honoka but regardless her name came from her lips. Her breathing started getting shallower and faster still, she was barely keeping it under control. She needed to get back to Honoka, she knew that. Her eyes jittered and darted in a feeble attempt to see Honoka again, in hopes she could provide her with some form of confidence. 

 

“Kousaka Honoka is here too?” the fan practically screamed at the mention of her name. Her eyes were glued to Tsubasa’s face, amazement prevalent in them. “Can I see her too? Could you both sign something?” 

 

“S-sure.” she forced the words out quickly, sweat dripping down her forehead. She walked as fast as she could while maintaining her composure. She all but fell into her sofa across from Honoka. “Kousaka-San, we have a fan here. She’d like us to sign some things.” Tsubasa flinched, immediately noticing the frown on Honoka’s face at how she addressed her so formally. She had no other choice, she needed to keep up her act. Although her hands still shook, Honoka being there reassured her ever so slightly.

 

Immediately Honoka took charge of the situation, in only a few moments registering Tsubasa’s feelings. It had taken her a while but she found herself attuned to Tsubasa in a way, she could just look at her and very quickly understand her.”Oh? Okay. What do you want us to sign?” she smiled genuinely, she wanted the fan to leave them to their date of course but she couldn’t help but be excited at her presence. 

 

The fan and Honoka spoke energetically, Tsubasa barely listened to their exchange, merely appreciating how Honoka looked as she spoke. She was calm again, leaning back into the sofa she sat on and smiling. “O-okay! I’m probably bothering you being here so long.” the fan smiled, stepping back respectfully. “Please just sign these!” she fumbled with her bag, bringing out a black marker and placing it on the table, followed by her bag itself. “You see, the pins there. Sign those.” she smiled innocently at Tsubasa and Honoka as she politely waited. 

 

Both idols reached for the marker, their hands brushing against each other briefly before Tsubasa pulled her hand away. Their hands had touched a thousand times but with the fan there it had somehow become the most flustering thing in the world. A slight blush adorned her face. “Go ahead Kousaka-San”

 

“Okay Ts-Kira-San!” Honoka’s enthusiasm overwhelmed her mistake. The fan didn’t even notice as Honoka took the marker and signed the Muse pin. “Your turn Kira-San!” she slid the pen across the table overdramatically. Tsubasa matched her, catching the pen between two fingers and smiling. 

 

“Thank you, Kousaka-San.” she signed the A-Rise pin, unable to hide the grin on her face. Performing always made her more confident, and that small display of dramatism was enough of a performance to make her feel better. “There you go.” with a renewed sense of confidence she smiled and winked, handing the bag back to the fan who promptly clutched it close to her chest and giddily ran away.

 

Happily sighing, Honoka looked over at Tsubasa. “You forgot the food y’know.” she teased, resting her chin in her hands and beaming.

 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” her smile was small and apologetic. She placed her hands on the table and prepared to stand, only to be pushed back down into her chair by Honoka who had risen from her seat 

 

“I was kidding, I’ll do it.” she mimicked Tsubasa’s wink, giggling to herself as she walked off to the counter. She returned with an excessive amount of food, Tsubasa didn’t realise you could even order that much at a cafe. But there was Honoka with an armful of food. “I uh… Got kinda carried away.” there were cheesecakes, biscuits, sandwiches, breads, anything Tsubasa could’ve thought of. “But we can share it!” she exclaimed, gracelessly flooding the table with food. “I got you your favourite tea too, so let me go get that.” she rushed off, Tsubasa giggled and took a piece of cake absentmindedly chewing on it as she waited for her to return.

 

Delicately she put the tea down, smiling at Tsubasa and taking a piece of bread. “It’s your favourite. I don’t know if it’s the same brand, but it’s that earl grey stuff you always have!” 

 

She took the tea and sipped it, recoiling at it’s heat. “Th-thank you Honoka-Chan.” just calling her that felt refreshing “Honoka-Chan” she muttered, just to hear herself say it again. It felt like an eternity since she was able to say it aloud, although it had only been a few days. She was used to not seeing Honoka for days at a time, she was used to being apart for entire weeks, but the last few days seemed to go on forever.

 

“Huh? What is it Tsubasa-Chan? Why’d you say my name so quietly?” she asked, swallowing the bread she was enjoying. “Do you want something?” immediately she began to stand, eager to achieve whatever task Tsubasa would set for her. 

 

“No, no. Sit down. I just like how your name sounds.” Tsubasa smiled at her, leaning across the table and kissing her several times. First on her forehead “Ho-” then on the cheek, “No-” again on her other cheek “Ka.” and finally on her lips “Chan.” satisfied, she leant back smirking. Honoka was gone, her face consumed by a look of pure blushing bewilderment. 

 

Honoka stretched her arms over the table, pulling Tsubasa towards her and kissing her forcefully. Neither of them pulled away, by the time the kiss ended Honoka had forgotten why she even kissed her in the first place. Whatever the reason, the result left Tsubasa grinning at her. For a moment she stared, before dramatically flopping onto the table “You’re so cute, it’s not fair!” she exclaimed, muffled by the table her face was residing on. Tsubasa snickered, placing a hand on Honoka’s head, running her hand through her hair. 

 

“Aw, no. I’m not that cute, you’re cuter than me.” Tsubasa countered before suddenly retreating her hand as Honoka jolted up. 

 

“No way!” she began listing off every single thing she found cute about Tsubasa. “You’ve got that winking thing, your green eyes that are like...G-grass? N-no. Sorry, I’m not good at these. Uhh. Like emeralds! And those poses you do in your lives, that uniform you wear, not the UTX one, but the one from our live together! How your hair frames your face, the colour of it, how sometimes that one bit of hair goes a little longer than the one on the other side-” 

 

Suddenly Tsubasa’s laughter cut her off “Aw, Honoka-Chan. You remember that tiny little detail?” she looked at Honoka adoringly, causing a red shade of embarrassment to seep into her cheeks. 

“Sh-shush! I’m not done yet! Your smile, how you always-” Tsubasa contentedly conceded, sinking into the sofa and closing her eyes, listening to Honoka’s voice for what felt like hours, feeling (for the first time in a long while) entirely at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet, 1883 words I think. It took a little while as I kinda procrastinated RIP. I think it turned out pretty nicely though, I had quite a bit of fun writing it. So I hope it's enjoyable to read too. As always, I hope you like it and I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.


	8. Chapter 8

Unhappiness entrapped Honoka, it had been a week since she and Tsubasa had gone on their date and since then neither of them seemed to have a chance to talk for very long. All their conversations had been were brief “I love you”s and goodbyes that came all too quickly.Love Live had utterly taken over their lives, every day was devoted to practice and preparation. She was sure Tsubasa was doing the same, but she couldn’t help but worry that she was overworking herself; Honoka knew the dangers that brought, and she hoped Tsubasa wouldn’t meet the same fate. The thought ate away at her and she grew more concerned, she knew she was probably fine but she just couldn’t take the risk. “Tsubasa? How are you doing?” she messaged her, eagerly focusing on her phone as she awaited a reply.

After a few tense and terrifying minutes, she responded. “Fine.” What she had said confused and worried Honoka, her responses were never that short. Something felt off. Something was wrong. 

“Anything more than fine, Tsubasa-Chan?” she pressed, desperate to understand just why Tsubasa was acting the way she was.

“No. Just fine.” Honoka could practically hear her sighing before she typed that message. She frowned, staring at Tsubasa’s message and trying to make sense of it. 

“Well, what have you been doing today?” she asked, she needed to understand what was happening. It was likely she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night if she didn’t. 

“I practiced with Erena and Anju and then started working on the music for a new song.” her messages came slow and begrudgingly, as if typing each letter were a painful experience.

“Oh, cool! I’m excited to hear that song! Can you tell me anything about it? Or is it an A-Rise secret?” Honoka’s message was as positive and excited as she could force it to be. The energy and happiness of what she had said completely subverted the worry, fear and concern that she truly felt.

“Secret.” she replied with a single word, barely even acknowledging what she had said. 

At this point, Honoka was growing more and more upset. It hurt. Every message felt empty and disinterested, as if Tsubasa didn’t care in the slightest. The slight smile she had from the prospect of talking to her ebbed away completely, leaving nothing but a miserable expression. “Okay. Is anything wrong? It seems like there’s something wrong…” 

“Yes, there is. But I can’t talk about it. I’m sorry.” she sent message slower than the others, taking a few minutes to finally send it. Honoka wondered if it had taken her a while to type it or if she was just hesitating to finally push send.

“What do you mean you can’t talk about it!? What’s wrong? Please tell me, I can help!” Honoka’s sadness faded, she finally had an opportunity to figure out just why Tsubasa had been growing more distant. She was more concerned than ever, trying desperately to figure out how she could possibly help her.

“I can’t. I’m sorry. Please, don’t ask anymore. I just can’t say it.” for the first time the entire conversation, Tsubasa’s genuine emotion came through. It left a bitter taste in Honoka’s mouth. She was glad she was being genuine, but the genuine feelings just made the situation worse. 

She couldn’t understand why Tsubasa wouldn’t talk to her, throughout their relationship they were always open with eachother. Always. And suddenly Tsubasa had locked herself away, not letting Honoka in no matter what she tried to say or do. “Is it because of a contract? Has A-Rise been signed with a company or something?” it was the only reason that seemed conceivable to Honoka. She could barely fathom the possibility that she was just refusing to talk to her. 

“No. Well, it’s to do with that. Look, I can’t do this. At least not now.” this response came faster, Tsubasa was thinking less and feeling more. Honoka knew that she couldn’t press any further, it would be pointless. She didn’t reply, just waiting to see if Tsubasa would say anything more. “So, what have you been doing?”

“Nothing much.” Honoka responded “Just working the same as usual, we have a great performance planned for the second preliminaries. It’s still a work in progress though.” On any other day she would have said more, she would have been excited and gone on and on about the sound of the song, the lyrics, how Muse had written it all together and the choreography that she had been practicing so hard to learn. Today however, there was none of that. Just a brief, vague, muted response. 

“Well, I’m excited to see it Honoka-Chan.” although it still felt wrong, it was legitimate and Honoka appreciated it. She didn’t go as far as to smile at the message, but she couldn’t deny feeling the smallest fraction of happiness from it.

“I’m glad you are. So, what are your plans for next week?” Honoka questioned, the glimmer of hope that maybe she and Tsubasa could see eachother again igniting. She felt foolish for having it.

“More of the same, really. Practice and preparation for Love Live.” her sentences went on longer, she typed faster. It was clear Tsubasa was growing less and less cold and reserved, yet Honoka still knew that she had no hope of a normal conversation.

“You need a break, you can’t just do that all week.” she said, she refused to let Tsubasa overwork herself. The thought of it chilled her to her bones, she was reminded of what had happened to her. Thoughts and feelings flooded back to her, the cold hard ground, the icy rain that drained the warmth from her body, the darkness consuming her vision as she faded out of consciousness, the feeling of utter failure that consumed her every waking moment for weeks upon weeks. She wouldn’t let Tsubasa suffer the same way.

“I can, it’s fine.” she shrugged off her concern entirely, dismissing her worries. Honoka would have been hurt if it weren’t Tsubasa. She knew she meant no harm, she just thought she would be able to handle it. 

However, Honoka knew better. “You’re coming out with me on Tuesday.” it was clear that she wasn’t making a request.

“Okay. That sounds good actually.” Tsubasa responded, the glimmer of hope inside Honoka reviving as she did. “I’ll see you then, okay?” 

“Okay!” Honoka responded, she still couldn’t bring a smile to her face. Worry and concern still dominated her in many respects, but at least now she had a chance. A chance to see Tsubasa again and to find out just what was wrong with her. 

Honoka gazed out of the window. Determined and terrified to face whatever would happen on Tuesday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been over a month since I updated this. Sorry about that, I ended up writing a bunch of one-shots and etc and I had some trouble thinking of where to go with this story to get to where I'm planning to go. But I have now, so rad. You'll probably see Remote Romance being updated more frequently now, so good. I quite enjoyed getting back into writing this and feel pretty good about it. So, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and have a good day.


	9. Chapter 9

The sky looked utterly empty. A blue-grey expanse that blended dull clouds with the canvas they were supposed to rest on. Tiredly, winds brushed across the landscape, only slightly pushing at the barren trees that were dotted around. It all served as background to a bleak street corner, light scarcely emerging from the buildings surrounding it to offset it. There was nothing but muffled background chatter to break the silence that dominated. The entire thing was a painting of melancholy, contrasting the solitary bright figure in the centre.

Honoka seemed utterly oblivious to her surroundings, smiling obliviously as if the sun were shining down upon her. She adjusted the hem of her skirt impatiently, beginning to wonder why Tsubasa hadn’t yet arrived. After all, she was the late one more often than not. Despite that seeming like a universal fact, there Honoka was: on time, waiting for Tsubasa. 

Worry began creeping back into her mind, after their previous conversation she had managed to overpower it with excitement of being with her girlfriend again. But Tsubasa being so uncharacteristically late bothered her. “Maybe she spent too long getting ready?” Honoka thought, leaning against the wall behind her as she gazed off into the dreary distance. Two or two thousand people could have passed, she was hardly paying attention. All she wanted was one. One person to walk into her line of sight. Yet, she never seemed to appear. 

“She sounded really unhappy, does she not want to see me?” she wondered, watching as a crowd of people passed by. “Maybe she’s caught up in some big crowds? Is there anything going on today?” she paused, only to conclude that there was absolutely no reason crowds would prevent Tsubasa from arriving. She sighed, beginning to question if she would even come at all. 

“No, no. Tsubasa-Chan would never do that. She’s gonna come. It's dumb to think she wouldn’t.” she rationalised, calming herself down ever so slightly. Still unable to shake a crushing feeling of paranoia. She looked herself over, wondering if what she had worn was good enough for her. It felt like it wasn’t, it was a simple light blue skirt that contrasted the bright orange of her coat. Underneath, she had a yellow long sleeved shirt. She knew Tsubasa especially liked it, she often wore it herself. Honoka would always laugh at how the sleeves were slightly too long for her arms. The memory was just painful, she wished she could be in that moment again, not on a street corner, staring out into the distance and praying that Tsubasa would arrive soon. 

“She could’ve forgotten?” she considered, “She doesn’t usually forget stuff. But Love Live is probably stressing her out.” Honoka tapped her foot, pondering. “That must be it! I should probably message her to remind her.” she pulled out her phone and sent a message, it started out brief only to grow into a paragraph that was absolutely littered with hearts.

No response came. It indicated that Tsubasa had seen it. But she didn’t say anything back. Tears welled in Honoka’s eyes. She had given her time to respond, a few minutes by then. But nothing. She felt utterly helpless, being so utterly ignored felt like a knife had been plunged into her and twisted ever so slightly.

She looked up from her phone, across the street from her she could see her. Looking utterly helpless as she stared at her phone. She wanted to cry out her name or wave or do anything. But she found herself paralyzed, merely observing as she slowly put the phone away. Each step Tsubasa took was hesitant, she could almost feel sadness emanating from her.

She didn’t notice Honoka, her eyes locked on the floor as she took pensive step after pensive step. Her body language was completely shut off, she kept her arms wrapped around herself and her shoulders tense. It was almost as if the coat she wore was doing nothing to keep the cold from reaching her. Each breath she took was hitched and quick, Honoka could immediately tell something was stressing her. Even then, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything but watch, unable to tear her eyes away from the slight movements Tsubasa was making. 

She stopped where she stood all of a sudden, looking up at the sky. Her eyes seemed slightly reddened, she wore an expression of confusion and heartache. It was as if she was trying to gather strength for something. Though, Honoka couldn’t imagine what. She sighed, her breath condensing into a blank mist that faded after only a moment. Time ticked by slowly, it felt like a century before she moved again. She carried herself much more confidently, it seemed as if she had come to a conclusion. Without hesitation, she began walking straight toward Honoka. 

She slowed her pace as she got closer. Honoka waved cautiously, flashing her a welcoming smile. Tsubasa winced, each step seemed like a forced movement. As if the path below her were solidifying concrete. Honoka’s expression shifted to concern, she wasn’t smiling anymore. Tsubasa’s eyes seemed to quiver, quickly darting to look at everything that wasn’t Honoka. 

Her footsteps stopped. She was face to face with Honoka now. The world was completely silent. Both of them looked at one another, neither knowing what to say. It was Tsubasa that went to speak first, only to suddenly shut her mouth again. She clenched her fists tight, her breath changing from a rapid, shallow inhaling to a more steady pace. Her green eyes pierced through Honoka as they finally gathered the strength to look into hers. 

“Honoka-Chan. We should break up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've planned this part from the very beginning of this fic, so I'm glad to have finally reached it. I doubt I would've been able to without your support, so thank you! This chapter is pretty short, not even breaking 1000 words. But, I feel like it's pretty good. And, it's kind of a bridging gap to the next major part of the story. Which is gonna be fun to write... 
> 
> Speaking of support, Hidekins. An author I enjoy who's been supporting me since my first month on the site has a birthday today. So, since this is Tsubahono and posted on their birthday, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to them! Kind of an unfortunate chapter to have dedicated to you... Sorry about that. 
> 
> As always, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and this fic as a whole so far. And I hope you continue to stick with it. I feel like the next few chapters are gonna be really interesting. Tell me what you think in the comments, have a nice day!


	10. Chapter 10

Honoka didn’t really react. There were no tears, no expression other than shock on her face, she showed absolutely no sign of sadness. Tsubasa supposed she was just processing everything.

“You don’t want that.” she said, blunt and firm. Her words cut through Tsubasa. Like an arrow aimed at the heart they hit their mark perfectly, At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to apologise to Honoka and tell her how sorry she was and how much she regretted even considering breaking up. 

Yet, she didn’t. She figured that once you were drowning, it’s easier to just swim down. “I do.” she kept up her facade of strength and certainty. She presented herself like a great barrier of stone. When in actuality she was merely glass, frail and able to shatter at any second. “It’s just what’s best.” she insisted, emotion drained from her voice.

Unlike Tsubasa, Honoka was unwavering. Her opposal unyielding and intense. “No! Tsubasa-Chan, we can do this. I know it’s hard. But it’s worth it.” she poured out her heart with painful honesty, every word that left her mouth being backed up with the utmost belief. “I know the situation is bad. But it won’t last forever!”

She began to crack. Ever so slightly. “Look, it’ll be better for both of us. Trust me.” her voice remained hollow. “I get it. It could get better. But we need to think about now. And right now, this isn’t going to work…” she paused, she didn’t believe the words she spoke in the slightest But she reminded herself to keep her resolve, this was for Honoka. “I don’t think it’ll ever work.”

“It will! You’ve just gotta believe. Come on, Tsubasa-Chan. I know how bad things can look sometimes. But you’ve just gotta remember that the sun always outshines the rain..” she cursed herself for the last part, it sounded too abstract. It made sense to her, but it was a very personal thing. “I’ve never told Tsubasa-Chan about that…” she thought, reminding herself to tell her once this whole event had blown over. After all, she was certain it would.

The tiny cracks that had formed only grew bigger with each word Honoka said, with each time she acknowledged the pleading, concerned look on her face, with every time her mind screamed at her to stop what she was doing. She suppressed it all, forcing herself into a state of numbness. She had to remind herself; It was for the greater good. “Honoka…” she paused, she knew she couldn’t continue as she had began, she had to take it farther, even if it meant hurting Honoka. “...Kousaka-San. We’re breaking up. I’m sorry.”

For the first time, Tsubasa saw tears in Honoka’s eyes; She regretted every single thing she had said, wanting desperately to take it back. But she found herself silent, trying to convince herself that maybe this was what was needed. “I-is it me? Am I the reason?” she whimpered, balling her hands into fists and looking at the ground. “I-I’m sorry Tsubasa-Chan. It’s all my fault, isn’t it?” she began to bawl, hitting her fist against her leg in frustration and sorrow. “Of course it is. It’s always my fault…”

“N-no.” her voice quivered, her facade on the verge of shattering. “It’s just…” tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, much more subtle than the waterfalls that covered Honoka’s face. “It’s just…” she remained paralyzed, unable to find the words was desperately searching for.

The world seemed to be falling apart around her, she knew the situation wasn’t going to well to begin with, but by now it had reached a whole new level. Tsubasa was completely and utterly helpless, her usual control had disappeared, leaving her terrifyingly alone. A suffocating atmosphere constricted around her; her only words were choked apologies and broken pleas for forgiveness that never seemed to reach Honoka. 

With each sob she heard from Honoka, she mentally berated herself more. “I’m the worst. How could I do this?” she assaulted herself endlessly “I don’t deserve her.” it was almost impossible to keep track of the onslaught.

She was crying.

She was crying in a way she hadn’t cried for years. Her eyes got wet, a few stray droplets of water emerged occasionally. But since she was a child, she had never cried this way. It felt pathetic, “I don’t deserve to cry.” she told herself. It did absolutely nothing to stop her, however. Hot waves of bitter water stained her face, she was a blubbering mess, utterly broken. 

All of a sudden, raw emotion took control of her. She pulled Honoka close and forced her weeping face into the crook of her neck, mumbling apologies and hateful words toward herself.

Minutes passed before the frozen Honoka finally moved. She wrapped her arms around Tsubasa and gently held her, stroking her head. Her tears had stopped, her focus was entirely on her now.

“Y’know, I’ve never seen you cry like this before.” she commented, frowning as she listened to each muffled bawl that came from Tsubasa. “Have you been holding everything in?”

“Y-yes.” she admitted quietly. “C-can we go somewhere more private please, Honoka-Chan? We’re still in public…”

“Okay. Where do you want to go?” She asked softly, running a hand through Tsubasa’s hair. 

“There’s a park nearby. Let’s go there.” Gradually she was recovering, returning to her regular self.

The silence between them seemed to echo, enveloping the area around them. The sky remained cold, dull and grey. The air that surrounded them was an uncomfortable cold that seemed to cling to the skin. And yet, they both seemed immune as they made their way to the park, hand in hand.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Once they reached the park, the two sat on a bench overlooking a pond. It was a quaint little spot, somewhere they could call their own. “So, what um. Caused this?” Honoka wasn’t exactly sure how to approach the situation, awkwardly staring off into the water before them and half leaning into Tsubasa.

“A lot.” she replied, tapping fingers against her leg nervously. “I guess I’ll start with the obvious. It’s just all the pressure from fans and things. I don’t want them to find out, it could damage both Muse and A-Rise’s image. Idols aren’t meant to date, especially not with one another.” she sighed. 

“Yeah, but Nozomi-Chan and Eli-Chan do it! And so do Hanayo-Chan and Rin-Chan! And Nico-Chan and Maki-Chan! I think… Maybe?” she was her eager, energetic self again, yet it was contrasted by a comforting, soft presence she had. Tsubasa could feel concern emanating from her.

“...Just them?” Tsubasa hinted, she wondered if Honoka had even realised what was going on between her two best friends. “No one else in Muse is in a relationship?”

“Huh? Well, obviously I’m dating you. But who else is there? Umi-Chan and Kotori-Chan never seem interested in that kinda thing anyway.” she responded, entirely unaware. Tsubasa snickered, deciding not to share with her what she had seen when visiting Otonokizaka’s student council office to look for Honoka. 

“Anyway. They’re all part of the same group, and well. Muse isn’t as big as A-Rise, they can get under the radar more.” 

“Well, we’re not gonna be idols forever. Are we?” Honoka remarked offhandedly, immediately noticing the harsh wince Tsubasa gave at her words. 

“I don’t know.” she sighed “That’s one of the things I was worrying about. We’re going to be graduating soon enough.” she kept pausing, seemingly struggling with her words. “And I don’t know if A-Rise will keep going or not. I suppose you’re having a similar problem, right? Because of the third years.” 

It was Honoka’s turn to wince, as of late it had become an increasingly prevalent question for Muse.Of course, it had been haunting them since the group fully formed, always somewhere in the back of their minds but never seizing their attention until lately. “...Let’s not talk about that for now.” she concluded, she felt it was something best solved with their groups. “I’m sure you’ll find what’s best for you.” she smiled. “Now, keep going. Don’t bottle anything up! Let it all out!”

Tsubasa smiled, as dense as she knew Honoka could be, she could read her like a book. She wondered if Honoka had figured out that she had been bottling up her feelings before and just decided not to in an attempt to save her the trouble. She snickered to herself, deciding she must be right. 

“What’s so funny?” she asked, tilting her head curiously. Tsubasa just shrugged in response, leaving Honoka with an irritated, yet adorable pout. “What? Come on, this is meant to be serious! I wanna help you!” there wasn’t a trace of anger in her voice, she was far too happy to truly convey the intensity she was attempting to get across. 

“Okay, okay.” she held up her hands defensively. “Well, I keep feeling like this is doing you more harm than good. I can’t always be there for you when you want me, we’ve been going on dates less and less, most of our talking is done over messaging... “ she sighed, her voice had grown far smaller than it had started. “Don’t you get lonely? I know I do.” 

Out of the blue, Tsubasa was in Honoka’s lap, facing her. “Wh-what?” she exclaimed, barely having time to register how her girlfriend has suddenly pulled her in. 

“I wanna look you in the eyes, Tsubasa-Chan. And that’s hard to do sat side by side.” she smiled innocently, destroying any thoughts of protest she was planning to voice. Any desire to spout out something like “But Honoka-Chan, we’re in public!” or the like were silenced with that one little look.

“You’re not gonna help any of that if you keep locking yourself away, okay?” she said, still oddly cheery for the seriousness of the topic at hand. “It hurts you a lot doesn’t it?”

Tsubasa struggled to get the words from her mouth, merely nodding. Her eyes darted around, not sure where to focus. She made a few attempts to look Honoka in the eye, finding it impossible. “Please, don’t do that anymore, okay?” she requested, her voice smooth and gentle.

“I won’t. I promise.” Tsubasa replied, finally looking Honoka in the eyes. She noticed the other girl grin at her own newfound intensity, she couldn’t help but match it. “There’s also the second prelims coming up. That’s pretty stressful.” her shoulders drooped, her entire body got looser, it felt like the stress was simply melting away from her. 

“Yeah, we’re having a lot of trouble with it too.” Honoka’s already beaming face lit up even more as she saw Tsubasa begin to relax, she knew talking like this would help her. “But we’re doing our best! You’d better be too, we don’t wanna win easily!” she challenged, burning with passion.

Tsubasa blazed back equally, “Of course we are, I’m not just going to give you Love Live.”

“Aw, really? Christmas is coming up, it’d be a pretty great present…” she teased, pushing her face closer to hers and looking at her pleadingly.

“No. Besides, I have something else planned for Christmas anyway.” she giggled, enjoying the look of shock and excitement that had overtaken Honoka. Like an excited puppy she seemed to jitter and wiggle in anticipation. 

“What is it?” she pressed desperately. Only to be met with a simple utterance of “Surprise.” from Tsubasa.

“Anyway.” Tsubasa began, deciding to finish their conversation with one final problem she was having. Of course there were more, but right now all she wanted was to enjoy this moment with Honoka. “Lately I’ve been feeling a lot of pressure from being the leader. It just feels like the whole world rests on my shoulders. Like if something goes wrong it’s my fault.”

She knew the expression and the feeling well, it matched her own from a while ago now. Whenever she would look in the mirror, she would see a face exactly the same as Tsubasa’s now. “Have I ever told you about why we dropped out the first Love Live?” She asked rhetorically, continuing with her speech before Tsubasa could respond. “Well, I felt that way too. I felt like it was all on me. I had to be the best I could for Love Live. So I would train and train and train, in the day, at night, in the sun and in the rain. In the end, I got sick.” she explained, the memory seemed to pain her only slightly, an odd fondness being the main emotion that came across in her voice. “But once we got on stage, I aced the first song! ...And then I collapsed. I had sprained my leg.Not only that but I was out cold... “ she looked away from Tsubasa, at the sky. “It was raining that day, but despite it all everyone came to watch us perform. Even now I feel bad they never got to see the full concert…”

“We had so much planned and because of me, it all went to waste! Not only that, but everything fell apart. We lost our place in the rankings and dropped out of Love Live. It felt so empty, and it all felt like my fault. They tried to tell me it wasn’t just me, but I still kinda have trouble believing them.” she began fiddling with her hands nervously, it was clear she wasn’t enjoying recalling the memory in such a detailed manner. “Anyway, after that we found out that we actually managed to save the school. Which should be a good thing, but it always made me a little sad on the inside. I mean, if the school was okay, what reason do we have to keep going? Saving Otonokizaka was what brought us together, and all of a sudden we didn’t have that reason. I wondered if we’d all fall apart…” she gave a tragically amused mixture of a sob and a laugh. “At the same time, Kotori-Chan announced she was going to leave for boarding school. That, that’s what really got me. It was like all my fears about us falling apart were coming true. Not only that, but it was Kotori-Chan! Who I had known my whole life! I-I honestly couldn’t imagine life without her. The idea alone of her leaving hurt…” 

She laughed, it was extremely out of place. “This is when you show up in the story actually, Tsubasa-Chan. I remember watching you while talking to Kotori-Chan. You were incredible, honestly. It made me think, how could we ever beat them? Is there even a point in trying? I could never be on their level. Stuff like that.” Tsubasa’s expression shifted to one of concern to one of almost horror, she felt guilty. Although it was by no fault of her own, she blamed herself for worsening the suffering Honoka had felt. “Aw don’t look like that. It’s not your fault. It was just me being stupid. Stupid Old Honoka, heheh.” she mocked herself sadly, she had grown far more emotionally invested in her retelling than intended, droplets beginning to trickle down her cheeks. “Anyway, we decided to hold a final live as a full group. And there goes me being stupid again. I tell everyone it’s all my fault and we ought to just end Muse, we could never be on your level. And uh. Umi-Chan slapped me. I’m not gonna lie, I deserved it…” 

Tears streamed down her face, delicately landing on Tsubasa’s skirt. “So, from then on I did what you’ve been doing. I shut myself off, bottled it all up. I never wanted to bother them with problems after that.” she rubbed her eyes. “Anyway, I’m getting long winded with this. Long story short, I talked to everyone and with everyone’s help. The full group got together again.” she cried even more now, not sadly but bitterly happily. “It doesn’t just end there though, although we were all together and were Muse again, I was still hesitant. Everyone wanted to try again for Love Live and I simply. Didn’t. I was scared to try again, to fail, to face you and A-Rise at the preliminaries. I was happy to just sing and dance with everyone. But with some help, I realised that well. This is our last shot. After this Love Live, we’ll never be able to enter again. I couldn’t let Eli-Chan, Nico-Chan and Nozomi-Chan down just because I was scared! They wouldn’t let me down! So, I agreed to enter. And as that happened, the rain went away and the sun came back.” she let out lachrymal laughter. “It was like the rain from that performance had been following me, and just then. As I decided to shoot for Love Live again, the sun finally rose and took it all away.” she sighed, wiping her eyes and looking up at Tsubasa, beaming as if she had just told the happiest story in the world. “That’s what I meant earlier, about the sun outshining the rain!”

It was impossible for her to find the words to say, Tsubasa was utterly awestruck. She had never known what Honoka had been through. It was overwhelming, she couldn’t figure out how to express in words her admiration, amazement, empathy and the myriad of other feelings she was struggling to place in that moment. “I love you.” was all she managed.

“Seems like you can’t find the words to say, huh? That’s okay. I’m just glad I got to tell you all that.” she beamed, looking past Tsubasa and at the newly descended night sky, stars shimmering brightly against the backdrop of an early Winter’s night. Each star glistened and looked down on them, this was exactly what they had needed. 

“I love you too, Tsubasa-Chan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely feel like this is the best thing I've ever written on this site. I'm so proud of myself, I almost don't feel guilty about taking two weeks to post this. I feel like I captured Honoka really well here, especially in her retelling of the end of S1 and the start of S2. I think I got everything pretty well actually, but I'm just especially happy with Honoka. I want to point out the song Mou Hitori Ja Nai Yo, I discovered it while working on this and it's absolutely perfect for this chapter and fic. It's one of Honoka's solos and I absolutely adore it. I recommend reading the lyrics and listening to it as it's absolutely wonderful (Also there's a lot of references to it in this fic that you'll be able to spot if you've read the lyrics) I'm also really happy with the length, nearly 3000 words! I believe that makes it the longest Remote Romance chapter so far, which I'm glad about. It definitely warrants the length. My largest concern is Tsubasa being slightly out of character, but I feel like she's pretty good and consistent with how I've been portraying her throughout this story. Another problem I have is maybe not being too good with my recollection of events from the show, I certainly need to rewatch. (Since I'm going to incorporate the second preliminaries soon.)
> 
> For the record, just because Honoka and Tsubasa are at a peace here, and things have changed for the better, it doesn't mean that all problems are resolved and there aren't going to be more spicy bits of suffering. The rollercoaster certainly doesn't end here. Think of it as another calm bit after a drop. Metaphors aside, I hope you all enjoyed reading this, I absolutely loved writing this. Have a good day and thank you for sticking with this fic for 10 chapters and... Nearly four months? Jesus.


	11. Chapter 11

From then, normality returned. It was oppressive, difficult and saddening; But it was normal, they could handle it. For a while, everything went as they always had, Honoka and Tsubasa scarcely going out on dates, restricted to only messaging one another. It truly hurt them both, their inability to be physical with one another. However, it was a long standing, bearable pain, so they merely took it and continued on with their lives. They had more important things to focus on, namely, the Love Live preliminaries. Both of them had been working hard toward that common goal, so much so that they hadn’t seen eachother in person for nearly a week or two.

Of course,with Honoka around, that wouldn’t last. 

A loud, enthusiastic knocking smashed against her door, startling Tsubasa. It was familiar, she immediately recognised it as Honoka’s. Normally, she would let her parents open the door, but she realised she couldn’t this time, she couldn’t risk Honoka blabbing about their relationship to them. Quickly, she dashed down the stairs, hoping to beat anyone else there. 

She was too late, her mother was at the door, talking quite happily with Honoka. Letting out a sigh, she waved at Honoka slightly, her eyes lighting up as she saw it. “Oh, Tsubasa. I was just about to call you down, your friend here wanted to see you.” she smiled, stepping out of the doorway so Honoka could enter. 

“Would you two like some tea or anything?” her mother asked, heading toward the kitchen.

“No thank you, Kira-San.” Honoka chirped, surprisingly politely. Tsubasa glanced at her curiously, it was rare for her to ever speak to someone that way, so she questioned why Honoka put in the effort to do so. “So, should we go to your room, Tsubasa-Chan?”

“O-oh, yes. Let’s go.” she had to stop herself from instinctively taking Honoka’s hand. She lead her upstairs in silence, pulling her into her room suddenly once they reached it. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Honoka silenced her with a quick kiss. Despite her attempts to fluster Tsubasa, she continued as if nothing happened. “What are you doing here? You know you aren’t supposed to come over when my parents are in.” she said sternly, it was clear she wasn’t angry, but she made it evident that she was less than satisfied with what Honoka had done.

“Well, I figured it’d be okay if we just stayed in your room.” she replied, crestfallenly staring at the floor, only glancing at Tsubasa a couple of times as she spoke. While she felt guilty for going against what Tsubasa wanted, she couldn’t really understand Tsubasa’s perspective. From what Honoka knew, they were traditional, but had never explicitly said anything against homosexuality. To her, that wasn’t a problem, after all, Umi’s family knew she was a lesbian and they didn’t care, so surely the same would apply to Tsubasa’s family. Ultimately, she chalked her hesitance up to paranoia, but respected it enough to stay away. 

However, a combination of spending weeks apart, constantly working toward Love Live’s preliminaries, and an urgent discovery, forced her hand. There was no other option, she had to see Tsubasa, and she would’ve done anything to do it. “I uh, I have a good reason though!” her energy returned to her, she looked Tsubasa straight in the eye, beaming at her. 

An eyebrow raised, Tsubasa looked at her curiously. “Oh? What is it?” she sat down on her bed, the balled up sheets the only outlier in an otherwise impeccable room. 

“Kotori and Umi are dating! I only found out yesterday! I had to come tell you!” she exploded, talking excitedly as if she had discovered something absolutely incredible. Snickering, Tsubasa couldn’t bring herself to tell Honoka she already knew, so she kept the curious look on her face.

“Oh? Really? That’s good for them.” she said nonchalantly. “They always did seem pretty close.” she couldn’t help but smile, Honoka’s personality was shining through so completely. Her adorable obliviousness and enthusiasm being extremely evident, Tsubasa absolutely adored it.

“Yeah! Apparently they’ve been dating for a couple months now! I never noticed! Nozomi-Chan told me it was obvious, but it wasn’t! I mean, I knew Umi was into girls, but I wasn’t sure about Kotori.” she ranted passionately, an unwavering fire in her eyes. Tsubasa snickered involuntarily at something she said. “What?” Honoka pouted. “What’d I do?” 

“It’s just.” she paused for effect. “Have you not realised that all of Muse are gay? It’s...Kind of obvious.” she said bluntly. 

After a couple of silent seconds, Honoka blushed in embarrassment. “W-well, I suspected it…” she mumbled, looking down at her hands and fiddling with them. “A-anyway! That’s not all!” she perked up again. “Once I found out about that, I knew we had to have a double date!” she smiled brightly at Tsubasa. “So, we’re doing that on Saturday!” she stated definitively. It wasn’t a request, it was just a fact. 

“Oh, okay.” Tsubasa simply agreed, there was no use fighting it, Honoka would’ve convinced her regardless of what she said. “Sounds like fun.” she smiled, already planning out a few ways to taunt them. Nothing too extreme, but a bit of fun.

“Now, with that out of the way, we can get to some fun stuff.” Honoka giggled, throwing herself at Tsubasa. By now they were both used to it, so she barely reacted despite the Honoka’s full body weight being launched at her. Beaming, she adjusted her position atop Tsubasa, straddling her waist and leaning down over her.

As Honoka’s face drew closer and closer to her own, Tsubasa grew less and less comfortable. “St-stop. We can’t do this here.” she asserted, a blush creeping onto her face. She was being uncharacteristically vulnerable, Honoka found it to be a cute change.

“Aw, why?” she whined, her whole body seeming to droop, the same way a scolded puppy’s would.

“My parents are home, Honoka-Chan.” she sighed. “Look, I’d love to do this. But I just can’t.” despite Honoka’s pleading look, she couldn’t give in like she usually did. After a couple of tense seconds, Honoka breathed out a defeated sigh, flopping down atop Tsubasa. “We can’t really do that either…” 

“Aw, come on.” Honoka complained. “Please? I’ve missed this a lot.” she begged. Despite her previous resilience, Tsubasa crumbled, stroking Honoka’s hair as she rest her head on her chest.

“Thank you!” she sang, every vowel lasting three times longer than they should’ve. The two of them felt the stress they had built up fall away, this was something they both had needed. “How’s stuff with A-Rise going?” Honoka inquired, looking up at Tsubasa. 

“Trying to get one up on the competition are we? Did Umi put you up to this?” she teased, earning a noise of protest from Honoka. Snickering, Tsubasa continued “It’s good. Stressful. But good.”

“That’s it?” Honoka complained. “You’ve gotta tell me more than that.” as she spoke, she snaked her arms around her, holding her happily.

“Well, we’ve got a new song. It’s a bit different to the last one. We went back and listened to a lot of our earlier songs for inspiration.”

“Ah! I know those songs! Shocking Party is still my favourite though, so this had better be good enough to top that.” she prodded Tsubasa’s nose teasingly as she issued her challenge.

“I’m sure it will be. Anyway, what about you? What’s the deal with your song?” Tsubasa questioned.

“We all wrote it together! We all went over to Nozomi-Chan’s house and then it started snowing! It was so inspiring, after that we went and worked on it together. We finished it the other day. It’s really good!” she grinned, ranting yet leaving out most of the details. “You’ll love it. I’m sure our fans will too.”

“I’m sure I will. All your songs are good.” she smiled, petting Honoka’s head lightly. “The question is, is it good enough to win?” she taunted, who ultimately won didn’t really mean much to her, just that both sides gave their all in the competition, however she enjoyed seeing how riled up Honoka got over it. 

“Of course it is!” she retorted, sitting up energetically and staring intensely at Tsubasa. 

“Yeah? You are going up against the top school idols in the country.” she reminded her, still taunting.

Honoka drew closer, unlike before Tsubasa wasn’t hesitant, the intense look Honoka was giving her had stolen all of her previous inhibitions. “So? We can still beat you!” her breath was hot on Tsubasa’s skin, of course, she didn’t mind it. All it did was excite her more as Honoka’s lips got ever closer to hers.

“Party! Shocking Party!” came blasting from her desk, her phone violently vibrating as the sound blasted from it. Both girls groaned in irritation. Slowly, Honoka moved off of Tsubasa, allowing her to answer her phone.

“Tsubasa-Chan, come quick.” Erena’s voice emerged from the phone, curt and oddly panicked. Tsubasa glanced back at Honoka before responding.

“I’m in the middle of something here…” she began.

“No! This is important! Anju’s collapsed.” she said, her tone angry and urgent. “S-sorry. We’re at my house. Please, get here as fast as you can.” 

“O-okay, I’ll be right there!” she responded desperately, ending the call and shoving the phone into her pocket. “Honoka-Chan, I’ve got to go, I’m sorry. Anju’s collapsed.” she pulled on her coat quickly, her fingers struggling to do up it’s buttons. As she rushed downstairs, Honoka followed sadly. Once they were out the door, Tsubasa gave her an apologetic hug. “I’m sorry Honoka-Chan, this is urgent. I-I’ll see you on Saturday.” 

Despite the dire circumstances, Honoka’s smile returned. “Okay, Tsubasa-Chan, tell Anju-San I hope she gets better soon!” 

“I will.” 

With that, Tsubasa was gone, sprinting away through the icy weather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a lot of mixed feelings with this chapter. Ultimately, I'd say I'm not really happy with it. It's not bad, I'm just not pleased with it really. I feel guilty that after two months of not updating this, I didn't really give any huge thing to come back to. Just a little chapter about Honoka visiting Tsubasa with a little intensity at the end. I promise the next two chapters will be better. I'm quite excited to write them. Firstly revealing and resolving the issue with Anju, then a double date with Tsubahono and Kotoumi. They're going to be fun to write. While writing this, I got rather stressed out about my characterisation and understanding of Tsubasa. Hopefully it's all fine and it's just me worrying. Once again, I'm so sorry for taking so long to update this fic, I've been busy with exams for a while, from now on I have plenty of time however, so I should be more frequent (Although this upload was still late...) 
> 
> Regardless of all that, thanks to everyone who's stuck around despite my accidental hiatus. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and has a nice day.
> 
> Tumblr: https://fainthesentientbeing.tumblr.com/


	12. Chapter 12

She nearly broke the door with how hard she pushed it open, a cold, wild wind blew against her back, but in the heat of the moment, she couldn’t feel it in the slightest. She slammed the door behind her, quickly and feverishly scouring the bottom floor of the house, room after room gave no result. The whole place seemed barren, Erena’s parents were nowhere to be found and neither were her friends. With a tense, racing heart, she made her way up the stairs, both the tension and her heartrate increasing exponentially. 

She began opening every door, she had never been in Erena’s room, she had no idea which was hers. Eventually, she found them, an unconscious Anju, looking in awful shape, and a shaken Erena, who didn’t look much better. 

“I-is she okay Erena-Chan?” Tsubasa kneeled down beside her unconscious friend, examining her solemnly. There were large, dark bags under her eyes. Tsubasa was amazed she had never noticed them before. “She must have covered them with makeup.” she thought, continuing her examination. Her nails didn’t go beyond her fingertips, it was clear they had been worn down by constant biting. It was yet another thing she disguised, using fake, painted nails or gloves. Her skin was dreadfully pale and her body seemed frail. It was as if she were made of paper.

“No.” Erena mumbled, staring down at her, eyes wide with worry and concern. “It seems she’s been overworking herself.” she said, her voice distant, she was still struggling to process what happened. 

“Oh, I guess it’s because of the prelims.” Tsubasa stated, she wasn’t really sure what to say. She had seen Erena upset before, but it was never like this. She was always more the type to get angry, to shout and cry at the same time. But not was completely different, she approached it all with a removed, quiet, almost fearfulness. Her voice was small and quivering. “How long has she been out?” 

“Half an hour now.” Erena muttered, whimpering. “I-is this our fault? We should have noticed. We should’ve taken more time to relax, I-I shouldn’t have called her over here just to work!” she pushed her face into her hands, choking back a sob. “I had no idea, I should’ve figured it out.” Tsubasa reached out a hand, supportively rubbing her back. She was still attempting to find the words to say.

Evidently, this had hit Erena hard, in a way little else could. It attacked the two things she cared about most, A-Rise and Anju. “What’s this going to mean for us, Tsubasa?” she pondered. “I mean, if Anju’s out of commission, how’s that going to affect us in the preliminaries. After all, this could be our last-” A pair of hands came from nowhere and placed themselves on her face, silencing her suddenly.

“Shush, Erena-Chan.” murmured tiredly, adjusting her head so it was resting on Erena’s lap, rather than the floor. “I’m okay.” she smiled, it seemed pained slightly, but mostly genuine.

“A-anju!” Erena cried in a mix of worry and relief. “A-are you sure? Do you need some food? Water?”   
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” she reassured, patting her face lightly. “Just tired.” she adjusted her head slightly, getting comfy in Erena’s lap. 

“Anju-Chan, you collapsed. You’re a bit more than tired.” Tsubasa sighed. “You don’t have to hide your problems, you know. You could’ve told us you were overworking yourself like this.” she smiled a little bit to herself, remembering Honoka’s words and hoping she did them justice.

A frown formed on her face, a far cry from the false smile she was wearing just before. “You two always work harder than me, have you ever noticed that?” she commented, her mouth considering the concept of a smile, but not quite dedicating to it. “You two are there every single day, doing your best for A-Rise, putting in all that effort. Then there’s me, kinda just floating along, I don’t work as hard as you two.”

“Anju, don’t say that…” Erena frowned. “You do plenty.” 

She hummed in response, considering what Erena had said briefly. “No.” she insisted. “Tsuba-Chan, you do all the composing, songwriting and lead us. And Erena-Chan, you’re always coming up with the dance steps, you help with the lyrics, And you’re always looking after us, Tsuba-Chan doesn’t really need it though, so it’s more like you’re just taking care of me. Heheh. Then there’s me. I do the bare minimum all the time and only make and come up with costumes.” she sighed sadly. “I’m the weak link here, so I thought I’d make up for it. After all, we might be coming to the end of our careers as idols, I don’t wanna leave it like that.” 

“What? You aren’t the weak link! There isn’t one!” Tsubasa spoke up. “We all bring our own skills and personalities to the table, that’s what makes A-Rise great!” as she spoke, Erena and Anju were both reminded of how she was when they formed A-Rise. Determined, definite, it was clear none of those traits had dulled since. “Besides, you do far more than that. Who makes us food at every practice session?” 

“Me.” Anju answered softly, confidence returning to her voice. Bit by bit, her shattered smile was piecing itself back together.

“Don’t forget how often you save us in interviews, you’re by far the most confident of us three.” Erena stated, fondly smiling down at her. 

“You’re like a one woman PR team.” Tsubasa complimented.

Despite their compliments, her smile had only partially reformed, something was still eating away at her. She swallowed down her sorrow and decided to admit it to them. “I don’t think I can make our costumes in time.” tears welled up and flowed freely. “I’ve been trying, I really have. It’s just with all this pressure, and practice, everything. I’ve scrapped it and redone it fifty times now, nothing feels right.” she balled her fists and lightly hit the floor in frustration. 

“That’s okay, Erena-Chan, we’ll just use the ones from Shocking Party, the fans really loved those.” she smiled. “We can debut our new costumes at Love Live, can’t we?” 

After a second of processing what she had said, Anju chucked to herself. She found herself believing Tsubasa, going along with her dismissal of the problem, frankly, it felt silly to her that there was ever a problem to begin with. “Okay, Tsuba-Chan, but are you really that confident about beating Muse?” she challenged “I’m expecting you to go soft on your girlfriend.” 

“You really think I’d do that?” Tsubasa smirked. “Don’t you worry, both of us are going to go as hard as we can.” 

“Oh, I bet you are.” Anju teased, giggling. Despite who the crude joke was directed at, only Erena blushed. 

“Anju…” her words came in the form of an elongated sigh.

“Mmk, that’s enough for now.” Anju concluded, with an oddly satisfied grin. “Hey, Erena-Chan, look down at me a sec.” she requested. Erena obeyed. “Bit closer.” she said, stifling a giggle, it amazed her that Erena wasn’t catching on to her plan in the slightest. “Biiit closer.” she requested for the final time.

It took about ten minutes for Erena to get over the fact that Anju had kissed her and had subsequently fallen asleep in her lap. Once she had fully calmed down, she noticed that Tsubasa had become enamored with something. A picture, only a little one. There were countless around the room, posters, promotional images, all taken by professional photographers. But she ignored all of those, instead staring at the solitary little framed picture that Anju kept beside her bed.

It was one of three identical framed photos, each depicting their first ever concert all that time ago, back when they were first years. It carried a lot of sentiment, giving off a nostalgic vibe and reminding of just how far they had come. 

In silence, the two stared at the photo, before Tsubasa broke the silence with a simple question. “Do you want this to end?” her voice was serene, she sounded utterly at peace.

“No.” Erena answered simply.

“I don’t want it to either.” Anju chirped, if the moment weren’t so peaceful, Erena would’ve had a heart attack, immediately asking questions about what she had just done. 

“Well, that settles it then.” Tsubasa nodded, turning away from the photo to face her friends. “We’ll continue as A-Rise.” she stated for certain.

“I don’t think it’s that simple, Tsubasa.” Erena objected weakly, not quite believing her point above Tsubasa’s.

“Is it really?” she retorted simply.

“I...I suppose not.” Erena decided. The room fell into silence. It wasn’t a bad silence, it was more of a comfortable one, where they let the weight of their previous time limit lift off of their shoulders, and let their decision for the future sink in.

A-Rise was staying, no matter what. But with the conclusion of that problem, several more spawned. Tsubasa struggled to push it out of her mind. “I’ll figure something out with Honoka, this can work.” she told herself, not entirely believing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing for me lately has been quite the endeavour, for the last two or so weeks, I've been trying to write other things, and I've kind of been failing miserably... But, I managed to write this today, and I quite enjoyed it. I love A-Rise's dynamic, and I liked exploring angst with them. After all, the A in A-Rise stands for Angst. I'm so sorry again for taking so long to update, I'm really bad at keeping consistent with chapter updates it seems. I really hope a month doesn't become the norm, but I'll definitely be trying not to take two months like before. Anyhow, I really hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and has a great day. Sorry if my notes come across as kind of rushed, I really want to just go relax after a while of intense writing. 
> 
> Tumblr: https://fainthesentientbeing.tumblr.com/


	13. Chapter 13

“Ah, I’m so excited! Do you think they’re there already?” Honoka exclaimed, clinging to Tsubasa’s arm as they walked. She was absolutely buzzing with anticipation, their date being her only focus over the last few days.

“Of course they are, you took ages to get ready.” Tsubasa teased, tapping Honoka lightly on the nose. While she had a lot more to think about over the last few days, she had gotten herself rather excited for the date too, not only would she get a date with Honoka, but she’d get to see Kotori and Umi’s relationship up close, she was certain she was going to have fun.

“Rude.” Honoka muttered, jabbing Tsubasa in the side lightly, eliciting a giggle from her. “I only kept you waiting for ten minutes!”

“It was twenty, actually.” she snickered. “I didn’t mind though, your family were nice.” she mused over her encounter with them, it wasn’t much, but it was nice. She had just sat downstairs with them as she waited for Honoka to finish getting ready. “Your sister seemed a bit intimidated though” she noted.

“Hm, probably because you’re a famous idol, Tsubasa-Chan!” Honoka grinned. “She’s a fan, so I bet meeting you up close was weird for her.” 

“I see.” she replied, not really having much else to say. They weren’t far from the restaurant now. Truthfully, she would’ve preferred to be a little further from it, she’d like to savour her time alone with Honoka as much as she could. As excited for the date as she was, simply walking under the evening moon with Honoka was a blissful joy she couldn’t get enough of.

Before she knew it, Honoka was gone from her arm, rushing off toward her friends. “Kotori-Chan! Umi-Chan!” she cried, launching herself at them and bringing them into a hug. “It’s great to see you!”

“Wh-what’re you doing, Honoka-Chan? You saw us yesterday! Why’re you acting like we’ve been apart for years?” Umi complained, not rejecting the hug in the slightest. 

Honoka simply shrugged before gleefully bounding back to Tsubasa’s side. “Oh, Tsubasa-San, hello.” Umi said, her irritated tone she used to scold Honoka disappearing, being replaced by far more respectful and formal one.

“Hello Umi-San, Kotori-San.” Tsubasa nodded at each of them as she addressed them, a confident smile on her face, the same one she tended to wear around Muse. 

“Hi.” Kotori replied, offering a warm smile in return. She moved her hand forward a little bit, a subtle way of showing that it was holding Umi’s. With most people it wouldn’t be worth noting. But for Umi, it was actually somewhat of an achievement. Given how terrified she was of public affection.

Tsubasa noted the hand holding and smiled knowingly at Kotori, who responded by doing the same. “How’ve you two been? I haven’t seen you since…” she paused, deciding to omit the time she caught them making out at school. She had just gone to pick up Honoka and ended up finding the two of them. “God, since the preliminaries? It's been quite a while.”

“I suppose it's because we’ve been focusing on our school idol activities.” Umi deduced. “After all, the second preliminaries are coming up. And those are the most important.” she looked away as the sentence went on, she didn’t really want to bring up competing with A-Rise, it didn’t feel appropriate. 

“Hm, yeah. I look forward to competing with you.” Tsubasa said, a spark of intensity. “We won’t be losing though.” she said, her voice a oddly threatening mix of cold seriousness and joking friendliness. 

“Hey, we won’t either!” Honoka said, nudging her playfully and aggressively with her shoulder. 

“B-but you can’t both win…” Umi informed them, pinching the bridge of her nose in confusion. Kotori squeezed her hand slightly, she immediately grew less irritated.

“Hm. Good point Umi-Chan! Guess you’re gonna lose Tsubasa-Chan!” Honoka proclaimed, now facing Tsubasa, looking as if she were ready for a fight.

“Is that so? Weird, last I checked I was part of A-Rise, not Muse.” she retorted, intensely staring down Honoka.

Umi looked on in utter bewilderment. “Is this some weird kind of flirting to them?” she thought, just staring at them and struggling to understand them. Ultimately, she realised it was a lost cause. Of course a relationship involving Honoka was going to be weird.

“Anyway, I’m hungry! Let's get some food!” Honoka proclaimed, rapidly pulling her gaze away from Tsubasa and toward the door of the restaurant. Before anyone could answer, she was already making her way in, pulling Tsubasa along with her.

With a sigh and a smile respectively, Umi and Kotori followed them in. 

It didn’t take long before they were seated. As they examined their menus, no one really spoke, just thinking about what to order.

It was Tsubasa who spoke up first. “So, how long have you two been dating?” she asked, not looking up from her menu to speak to them.

“Oh, two months ago.” Kotori chirped happily, she enjoyed talking about their relationship, even if she was lying about it. 

“I see, I suppose it was only a matter of time.” Tsubasa commented, smiling to herself. “After all, Anemone Heart didn’t leave much to the imagination.” she teased. Umi turned red, holding her menu so it couldn’t be seen.

“Huh? Anemone Heart?” Honoka questioned. She paused for a few seconds, it was as if gears and cogs were turning in her mind, slowly but surely making all the necessary connections needed for her to figure out the decidedly not subtle message of the song. “Oh! Wow, you’re right! That was super obvious!” 

Umi retreated further, her entire face covered by the menu. Her attempts to hide her face only drew more attention to it. Everyone snickered a little, including Kotori. “Heheh, Umi-Chan wrote it before we even started dating.” Kotori chirped. “When I first read it I kind of freaked out. I wasn’t sure if she really meant it or not.” she leaned into Umi a little, who’s whole body seemed to quake with shock and embarrassment. While she had gotten better with affection, she still had problems, and Tsubasa’s presence certainly wasn’t helping things. While she didn’t dislike Tsubasa, she had trouble viewing her as Honoka’s girlfriend, she could only really see her as A-Rise’s Tsubasa, rival to Muse.

Thankfully a waitress came and took their orders, saving Umi from any further flustering. Tsubasa decided to leave her be, at least for now. She only wanted to tease her, not to distress her. 

“So, Tsubasa-San. Honoka’s told us all about how you started dating. Can we get it from your perspective?” Kotori asked curiously, displaying a kind smile. 

“Of course.” Tsubasa replied, she took a minute to think. She wanted it to sounds as romantic as possible, she could already feel a spark of fun competition between her and Kotori. While it wouldn’t result in them arguing over who’s girlfriend is cuter, sweeter and better, she resolved to try and one up Kotori whenever possible, hoping she would do the same in return.

“Well, I was the one who asked her out, as you know. Truth be told, I was kind of overwhelmed at first.” she admitted, only slightly playing up how lovestruck she was. “I had always thought she was amazing, ever since I first saw her perform.” she recalled the memory vividly. She, Erena and Anju, had all gotten together to check out their rivals in the upcoming Love Live. It started out quite intense, they would meticulously analyse the competition, trying to get a good sense of their strengths and weaknesses. Eventually, however, they came across a pretty popular group that dropped out. Out of curiousity, they checked it out. 

When Tsubasa first watched Muse, the feeling was hard to describe. They had an incredible charisma, it would pull you in and charm you without you even realising it. Before you even knew it, you’d be cheering for them. It was absolutely mesmerising for Tsubasa. And at the centre of it all, was Honoka. A beacon of bright, beautiful sunshine that, at least in Tsubasa’s eyes, outshone any other idol she had seen before. The clear passion and love with which she performed completely engrossed her, and before she knew it, she was a fan with a crush.

“She has this amazing charisma when she performs, and I, like many others, was intrigued by it. That’s not saying you and the other members of Muse weren’t fantastic too, Honoka-Chan just stuck out to me.” she clarified, she didn’t want Kotori and Umi to feel dejected. They were amazing idols, it was just she found Honoka to be even more amazing.

“Anyhow, after that I knew I had to meet her. But with the uncertain fate of Muse, I decided to hold off.” she frowned slightly, remembering what Honoka had confessed to her about that time, the suffering she and her friends went through. She wished she had done something. She watched Kotori and Umi’s faces, they didn’t react very much, seeming completely at peace. She checked beside her. Honoka wore the same expression as them. “But once you got back together, I took my opportunity.” 

“Tsubasa-Chaaan, you're taking to long.” Honoka complained, a blush running rampant on her cheeks. It was clear the slow pace of her storytelling wasn’t the sole motivation for her complaints. “We know all that part, about how you pulled me into UTX and stuff. And that we became friends and started hanging out after that.”

“Sorry, sorry. I just like the story.” she admitted, chuckling briefly. “Anyhow, my confession was a bit rushed.”

“It was really bad.” Honoka clarified. “It was hardly even romantic.” she teased.

With a fond sigh, Tsubasa nodded in agreement. “I was trying to plan it all out, to come up with the best, most romantic way possible to confess. But I ended up overthinking it, and when the time came all I ended up say was, ‘Hey, want to go out?’. It was really embarrassing.” She paused before speaking, this would be her killer line. “Honestly, she was too beautiful in that moment, I could hardly speak. It’s a miracle I even got those words out.”

Honoka sank into her chair, completely and utterly destroyed by Tsubasa’s compliments. Usually she would say something in return, but being complimented so highly right in front of her two best friends left her speechless.

“Aw, that’s so cute, Tsubasa-San!” Kotori complimented. “Umi-Chan and I have a nice story too.” 

“Oh? Why don’t you tell us about it?” Tsubasa requested, wanting her curiousity sated and a chance to really get competing with Kotori. They both had it in them, it came across most when they spoke in private. It wasn’t often, but it did happen. And each and every time they’d end up with a playful, friendly contest between them.

“Well, obviously it took us a while. Both Umi-Chan and I are pretty passive with this stuff, so it took a long time for us to build up the courage to tell eachother our feelings.” she began, each sentence dripping with enough nostalgia to flood the room. “But eventually, Umi-Chan finally did it! She was so brave.” she giggled, smiling wide at Umi. Who in response, sank further and further into her chair, cursing herself for not keeping her menu, it was an invaluable tool for hiding her embarrassment

“She was surprisingly direct with it. She invited me to her place and just confessed to me when I arrived.” it was easy to envision Kotori swooning as she spoke. “She got all worried about it, it was really cute.” 

Umi and Honoka shared a glance, acknowledging their shared situation. Their girlfriends compliments would be the death of them.

“I see.” Tsubasa nodded in acknowledgement. “Honoka was really cute when I asked her out too. She stared at me, completely mystified for a minute or two, before she asked me to repeat myself.” she leaned on her hand and recalled it wistfully. Normally she wouldn’t be so physically dramatic. But she had a burning determination to win.

Kotori leaned into Umi, resting her head on her shoulder. “Oh! I forgot about this part! Umi-Chan started crying when I said yes.” she nuzzled her as she spoke, not only to one up Tsubasa, but also because she felt like it. She was hoping she could comfort Umi, however all she did was fluster her more.

Tsubasa kissed Honoka on the cheek, feeling no need to say any more.

Kotori wrapped her arms around Umi, who by now seemed to have shut down, like a robot whose power had been turned off. 

Tsubasa retorted by shifting into Honoka’s lap.

Kotori fiercely parried, telling Umi she loved her.

They reached a standstill, their hands hovering beneath their girlfriends’ chins. They both had the same idea. By now Honoka and Umi were entirely out of it, letting the two of them do whatever they wanted (And enjoying it.)

“Um, which one of you ordered the burger?” the waitress asked, blushing profusely, feeling like she was interrupting something.

Honoka raised her hand, her former embarrassment swept away at the sight of food.

It was going to be a long date. At least for Umi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a long, long time. And I'm so sorry! I've had a whole lot of personal stuff going on, real life impacting things. And I've also been writing lots of other stuff and have been working on my headcanons blog. All in all, a lot's been happening with me! 
> 
> Anyhow, I absolutely adore the premise of this chapter. A kotoumi and tsubahono double date where Kotori and Tsubasa compete. Its a really funny and cool concept! Unfortunately, I feel I didn't do it justice here. But oh well, I have another chapter of this afterall! I also used this as a bit of an opportunity to clarify some timeline stuff. Like how Tsubasa has had a crush on Honoka since she first saw her perform. And that their first meeting was the same, only they started frequently hanging out after that, rather than them occasionally hanging out as presented in Season 2. It isn't much, but I feel like it helps to explain the canon divergence a little bit. Anyhow, I don't feel amazing about this chapter, I have many worries. But I'll discount my own thoughts and wait for what my audience thinks! After all, you're a lot better at judging my writing than I am. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and have a great day!


	14. Chapter 14

Honoka wolfed down her food rapidly, it was there one minute, gone the next. “You know if you trained as much as you ate, we’d be having a much easier time at winning Love Live.” Umi grumbled, carefully cutting out a bite sized piece of fish and placing it into her mouth elegantly, repeating the process once she swallowed it. 

“Are you having some trouble then?” Tsubasa asked, glancing over at Umi as she ate. While she was far from on pace with Honoka, she had already gotten through over half of her meal with ease. Immediately she noticed Umi flinch and look away, she greatly regretted showing any sign of weakness toward her opponent. “Truth be told, we are too.” Tsubasa sighed. “It’s a very tasking competition, especially since we’ve got you to go up against this year.” she smiled. “But that just makes it more fun, don’t you think?” 

Umi sighed, she didn’t quite believe that the great A-Rise was actually threatened by Muse, or that they were struggling. After all, in the previous Love Live they seemed to have won with ease. “I suppose…” she responded. 

Kotori took her hand and squeezed it under the table, a purely physical message. Signalling for her to cheer up, it was a date, it wasn’t the time to worry about Love Live. “It’s been snowing a lot lately.” Kotori commented. “I wonder if it’ll cause any problems.”

“I don’t think so.” Tsubasa replied. “UTX is slated to be open despite it, and the roads aren’t getting too badly affected by it.”

“Ah, we should go out and play in it!” Honoka chimed, all aglow with excitement. “Like we used to when we were kids!” she exclaimed, getting more and more eagre about the idea. 

Umi huffed “It’s a bit silly to go out and have snowball fights and that sort of stuff at this age…” she wasn’t exactly against it, but it felt immature.

“Aw come on, Umi-Chan! Stop being lame! Let’s go!” Honoka protested. 

“W-what? I haven’t even finished my food yet.” Umi grumbled, looking down at her food and continuing to eat.

“Well when you’re done then! Come on, please?” Honoka pleaded. All eyes were now on Umi, the other two were clearly fine with going out in the snow, so it was all down to her.

“Fine, fine. After I finish my food.” Umi replied, admitting defeat. 

As it turned out, they didn’t go out after she finished her meal, as they still had to pay for their food and actually find somewhere open enough for them to properly enjoy the snow. Eventually settling in a familiar park that Tsubasa and Honoka both knew well.

“Alright, so what exactly do you want to do, Honoka-Chan?” Umi began, turning to Honoka, only to find she couldn’t see her. In fact she couldn’t see anything, as her eyes automatically closed when a snowball struck her in the face. “Who threw that?” she asked through gritted teeth. Honoka snickered, only to be cut off by Umi hitting her with a snowball of her own. She didn’t even open her eyes to do so, intimidatingly going off of sound alone. 

“H-hey, what was that for? I didn’t even throw it!” Honoka cried, surprisingly not lying. The actual culprit had been Kotori. She knew the easiest way to get Umi involved would be for her to get hit with a snowball, so she took the task upon herself. 

Tsubasa decided it was time for her to get involved, standing behind Umi she created a snowball of her own, hitting her in the back of the head with it. Before she could turn she prepared another, attempting to hit her with it. But it was futile, Umi caught it, the snow falling apart and collapsing to dust in her fist. Tsubasa’s eyes widened, she took a few steps back before erupting into a run, barely managing to avoid the barrage of snowballs that were chasing her.

Honoka stood and stared for a while, she was getting flashbacks to the pillow fight at their sleepover. Tsubasa would be lucky to survive if Umi actually caught her. Neither Nozomi nor Maki were around to save her. So it was up to her and her alone. She knelt down, carefully forming a snowball between gloved hands. With uncharacteristic precision, she began to aim, defying her nature of thoughtlessness and impulsiveness, she waited for the right time. And struck.

All she managed was to draw Umi’s attention toward her instead of Tsubasa. And before she could even react. 

Betrayal.

Kotori hit her too, taking the side of her girlfriend and betraying Honoka. Reeling from the sudden impact of her two best friends striking her, she began searching for her next course of action. And fortunately, it was already planned out for her. Tsubasa was signalling her from behind a tree, a perfect source of cover. Rising to her feet she sprinted to cover, barely escaping the incoming assault from her friends. 

“S-so, what’s our plan?” Honoka asked, breath ragged. 

Tsubasa hummed. “Well Umi-San is our main threat here.” she whispered, keeping her voice down as to not reveal their plan. “Chances are they’ll be coming around the sides of this tree to get us. So I think we should sneak away and hit them when they come around to get us.” Tsubasa explained.

“We can hide behind that bench over there!” Honoka added, her voice dropping to Tsubasa’s level. Her girlfriend nodded in response, confirming their plot. They ran over to the bench, preparing some snowballs for their upcoming attack. 

Sure enough, Kotori and Umi came out from either side of the tree, prepared to finally take down the other couple. But to their surprise, they were nowhere to be found. Tsubasa and Honoka took this as their chance, barraging them with a flurry of snowballs they had prepared.

They made a futile attempt at a counterattack, but the bench proved too great of a defense, with only a few of their attacks getting past it. Kotori and Umi eventually retreated behind the tree, occasionally poking out to make a brief attack, before returning to cover. From there on out, the war had changed. It was more tactical now, more about waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike rather than all out assaults of snow. 

It didn’t take long for Honoka to get bored of it. “We should build a snowman now!” she said excitedly, popping up from behind the bench, thinking that an unspoken ceasefire would take place. But unfortunately, no. Kotori struck her down, three snowballs colliding with her all of a sudden.

With that, the battle was actually finished. Kotori saying “Okay.” and beginning work on the first part of the snowman with Umi in tow. 

Tsubasa strode over to Honoka. “That wasn’t very smart of you.” she teased, taking Honoka’s hand in hers and leading her over to where Umi and Kotori were working.

Honoka smiled wide “Did you expect me to be smart?” she asked, leaning into her a little.

“Hmm. No.” Tsubasa responded, “But still, I thought you could surprise me.” 

The next thing Tsubasa knew, she was tripped, falling face first into the snow. Honoka giggled, as evil as she could manage. “I can surprise you.” she said, kneeling in front of her and offering a hand to help her up. Tsubasa smirked and nodded, acknowledging her feat. The two of them going to join Kotori and Umi in their snowman building.  
It didn’t take long for a fairly competently made snowman to form. All it was lacking was arms. Honoka hummed, scanning the area for things that could be used as the snowman’s limbs. Unfortunately she could find no twigs or anything of the sort to form the arms, so she resolved to make one for herself, walking over to a tree and tugging on a small, thin branch, attempting to break it off. “W-what’re you doing?” Umi asked, walking over and sighing.

“Ah, Umi-Chan! Give me a hand, will you?” Honoka asked, still struggling with the branch. Umi sighed and did as requested, helping to snap off the twig. Honoka sprinted over to the snowman, adding the arm to it. Quickly snapping another (Once again with Umi’s help.) and completing it. “Aw, wait a minute. It doesn’t have a hat or anything!” she gasped, looking over the people surrounding her. It became immediately clear that no one was willing to give up their clothing for it. She considered pleading with Tsubasa, but it’d ultimately be pointless, so she accepted the snowman’s fate of being naked forever more.

“I think it’s fine as is.” Kotori said, admiring their work. “We should take a picture with it.” she suggested, taking out her phone in preparation. 

“I’ll take the picture Kotori-San.” Tsubasa chimed, gesturing for the three Muse members to stand by the snowman. It’d be best if she wasn’t in any pictures with them. She doubted any of them would upload it, but if they did it without thinking or somehow did it accidentally, the rumour mill would start up again, despite having only recently slowed down. 

With a nod, Kotori took her place beside the snowman, Umi joining her. Honoka took the opposite side, attempting to stretch her arm far enough to put it around both the snowman and her friends. She only got as far as Kotori though, and that still took a bit of work. Tsubasa snickered, she loved little things like that about Honoka a disproportionate amount. 

With the picture taken, they concluded it was about time to head home. Their snowy escapades had eaten up more time than they thought it would. Honoka, of course hugged her friends as she bid them farewell, and Tsubasa said goodbye just as she said hello, simply addressing them both individually. 

On the journey to their homes, there was an odd quiet between them. Not tense, not awkward, just quiet. Both of them had thoughts but none really to express. Although sometime along the way Tsubasa let go of Honoka’s hand. Before they knew it, they were back at Honoka’s house. “So when can I see you again?” Honoka asked enthusiastically, already excited for their next date.

“The preliminaries. We’ll both be too busy until then.” she answered. Honoka drooped a little, she was going to get withdrawl systems. “We’ll still talk, of course.” Tsubasa reminded her, causing her to perk up a little more. “But I recommend paying more attention to the competition than me. I do want a challenge after all.”

Honoka stood tall, a fiery determination flowing through her at being reminded of her purpose. “Of course! We’re going to give you the best fight of your life!” she insisted. 

Honoka held out her hand, defining her previous statement as a promise. Tsubasa took it, she didn’t expect any less from Honoka and Muse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot I could say about RR, and this chapter. However that's all pretty negative and I think I'll save it for another day. (Don't worry, I'm not intending to drop the fic or anything.). Anyhow, instead of focusing on that, I'd like to talk about something far more positive and a lot more important to me. Namely that it's been a whole year since I started this fic! Remote Romance's first chapter marked my debut into the world of fanfiction and into creating content within the Love Live fandom, it's hard to believe it's been a whole year since then! Time really flies, I suppose. It's been an amazing experience, getting to write all the stories I have and develop this one so much. I've enjoyed it all and I feel like I've made progress as a writer since my earlier days. My response and treatment from the fandom has been fantastic too! I've met a lot of fantastic people and I'm so glad I've been able to make so many people happy with my works! I find it hard to find the words honestly. It's just kind of surreal that I'm kind of successful with this and that it's gone so well for me. It makes me so happy! I just hope that I can continue on with this for the next year, constantly improving and getting better. I've had a lot of problems this year and I'm sure I'll have things I need to overcome this year too, but I hope I can get over those and continue on the path I want to. I hope all of you will support me! And I hope you've enjoyed this first year of this fic. Hopefully I'll get it done this year, but then again, I'm quite slow with it...


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